Boggie Dog

Yes, they get the same screening and should have exactly the same access. The security fee that each person pays has no bearing on that persons spend with an airline. One trip, one security fee.

If the airlines/airports want to control how people are funneled to security then those groups should be pressing to conduct the security screenings themselves and get government out of things that federal government has no business doing in the first place.

You could just mail your return in.

Carl Johnson

They can do that all they like, but that has nothing to do with the point you're arguing against. The fact that you generalize your description so that it obscures the point you're really making indicates that you sense the weakness of your argument. The airlines should not be allowed to control access to a federal resource.

cestmoi123

They don't allow or deny people access to the federal resource. They get to choose in what order people get to that resource. Everybody gets screened.

Think of it this way. If they wanted to, the airlines could say "status frequent fliers and first class passengers can use their mobile devices or print boarding passes at home. Everyone else needs to get a boarding pass from a kiosk in the airport." If security lines are long, they just stop printing boarding passes until the line has shortened. Has the same effect as having a priority line.

TWA884

Ideally, that's how is should work. In practice, it's not always as smooth. Sometimes the lineminders are control freaks.

A few months ago, I showed my home printed boarding pass with the TSA Pre✓ logo to the AA lineminder at LAX. She was not satisfied with just a cursory look and grabbed the boarding pass from my hand. After 20-30 seconds, I (not so nicely) demanded that she return it to me. She didn't. I yanked it back - good thing I printed it on heavy weight paper, or it would have torn - and proceeded toward the TSA ID checker. She started screaming that I pushed her - I had absolutely no physical contact with her.

Her colleague at the top of the stairs blocked my way to the screening area. I wasn't about to get into a physical altercation, so I reluctantly waited for their "supervisor" to come. He carefully examined my boarding pass and asked for my side of the story. He followed up by inquiring how long I thought it was reasonable for them to check the boarding pass. I told him that three seconds was more than enough time to verify that it has the Pre✓ wording or logo. He asked me what if it takes longer. I just rolled my eyes. I was then allowed to proceed to the screening area.

By that time, my flight was boarding, so I never got a chance to get names and file a written complaint. I looked for that overly officious lineminder the next few times that I passed through LAX, but have not seen her since.

Schmurrr

That surely won't result in confusion and complaints.

cestmoi123

Of course it would be inefficient. I was merely making the point that airlines absolutely have the right, and ability, to prioritize their preferred customers when it comes to sequencing them for security screening.

saizai

Just ignore them and go through whatever line you feel like. If they're not even TSA, they have zero power to do anything about it. Just don't interact with them at all, any more than you interact with random hobos telling you what to do.

Carl Johnson

You weren't making that point, or much of any point. What the TSA can and should do is say, get rid of the priority lanes. Everybody gets in equally or nobody gets in. For funny business with the boarding passes, the TSA could say the same thing, or the FAA could just prohibit it.

cbn42

Why should a private business get to choose in what order people get access to a federal resource? Should H&R Block be able to tell the IRS in what order to process tax returns?

TSA screening is paid for by funds apportioned by Congress and the September 11 Security Fee which is the same for all passengers. The airlines do not contribute any money and therefore should have no say.

To be clear, I would have no problem with airlines paying the PreCheck fee for their best passengers if they chose to do that. TSA, however, should treat all PreCheck passengers the same regardless of who paid the fee.

That would work, but I think it would cause enough opposition that the government would be pressured to fix it. TSA is not obligated to require a boarding pass for screening, and if airlines tried to play a game like this, they could accept an itinerary printout instead.

cestmoi123

I was making a clear and entirely justified point. TSA gets to choose how to handle people who present themselves for screening. The airport gets to choose how people get to screening. The airport is entirely free to decide how people get up to the TSA checkpoint. The airport is entirely free to accommodate its customers (the airlines). Unless you think that TSA should be able to regulate how the airlines handle checkin, how the airport handles parking, etc. etc. etc.

cestmoi123

No, because you don't have to use H&R Block, and H&R Block has no say over people who aren't their customers. H&R Block would be entirely within their rights to say "if you buy the top tier service, we'll submit your return to the IRS right now, otherwise we're going to sit on it for two weeks if you're due a refund."

On a separate note, if getting to that federal resource requires traversing non-federal property, then private property holders certainly can control the sequencing of who gets to that resource. The Federal Gov't doesn't get to ban HOV lanes or tolls on a state highway if that highway provides access to a national park.

And they don't, when it comes to screening. Which starts when you hand your BP to the TSA doc checker. Unless you think that screening should be deemed to start when you enter the airport, which would mean that you couldn't turn around and leave the airport without TSA approval.

And they do. Once you start screening, all PreCheck customers are treated the same. Once you start screening.

cbn42

You don't have to use Delta either. Why should Delta get to prioritize their top tier customers and thus further delay customers of other airlines? Unless the checkpoint only serves one airline, this appears to be unfair.

If the airport was owned by the airline, that would make sense. However, airports in the US are owned by local government authorities. The counters and gates may be owned or leased by the airlines, but the screening area is not.



I consider screening to start when I get in line for screening. If someone does something suspicious while waiting in line, TSA has every right to intervene. That is what the BDOs used to do at many airports. How can a BDO talk to you if screening hasn't started?

cestmoi123

If all the airlines using the terminal agree, it's not unfair at all. If the terminal operator agrees because most of the airlines in the terminal agree, and those airlines are their best customers (i.e. airlines), it's not unfair at all.

They're owned and run by local government authorities, generally, which have pretty broad latitude how to run them. How to set up the lines, what vendors to allow, etc. etc. The TSA runs the security screening area.

Aukai isn't crystal clear on this, but consensus seems to be that screening actually starts (in terms of the point when screening has commenced, and you hence can't just turn around and leave) at the document checker. BDOs can work the lines (as utterly pointless as their efforts are), but you're not obliged to speak with them.