Aside from all of the fairness discussions, why do you folks still want to push for elite lines?
Minetta promises a less than 10 minute wait for everyone. Let's hold him to that.
Instead, people here want to create security lines for elites, which will be inefficient by design. That's great if you have elite status and only fly one airline, but if you really are frequent flyers, you should have experienced many cases in the past where (1) you're forced to fly another airline because of route or fare issues or (2) the flight on your preferred airline (the one you have elite status on) got canceled for whatever reason and you're forced to fly another airline.
In both of these cases, unless you have elite status on several airlines, you're going to have to fly an airline without elite status. What will that mean? Long security lines.
Since "we" have decided to divert resources away from making everyone's wait 10 minutes or less, the non-elite security lines will be as long, if not longer, than they are today. So, on these rare occasions when you're forced to fly an alternate airline, you could be facing a few hour wait to get through security. Is that the best solution?
In tfjim's DMV example, car dealers get to go directly to the front of the line. Is this the best solution? Wouldn't it be better for everyone if there was only one line, operating efficiently, and processing everyone in less than 10 minutes? Or should regular drivers have to wait 30 minutes, while car dealers have to wait 2? Which sounds better?
Let's face it, elite lines are not the answer to the problem. They're never going to be implemented at every airport, they screw you if you fly 40,000 miles on two airlines, and you get screwed if you have to fly a different airline for whatever reason. Nor do I believe that (without some additional money in there) it will be legal for the government to discriminate based on what a third party (the airlines) say.
And, let's not forget that as much business as we frequent flyers give the airlines, the regular traveling public still makes up a lot of revenue airlines bring in. If you want airlines to serve meals, provide a good frequent flyer program, have airline clubs, a large route network, frequent flights, etc., then you should want as many people to travel as possible.
If the 80/20 rule applies here (80% of airline revenue comes from 20% of the pax), think of it this way - if the 80% of the pax that makes up the last 20% of the airlines' revenue stop flying, do you think the airlines will continue to offer the same level of services to us? Will airlines keep their system timetables the same with the flights only 20% full?
Let's make everyone happy in the long run, not just ourselves in the short run. Minetta vowes that everyone will have a 10 minute or less wait - let's make sure it happens.
d