Originally Posted by
Redheadpeter
Some folks aren't happy about this, they think because they are frequent flyers, wealthy, important, whatever they should wait less than that number of minutes, ideally no minutes at all. So they pay money to achieve that. The amount of money isn't important.
In fact the amount of money is the most important bit.
If it were, say, $1,000/year, only top executives and people with more money than they could possibly spend would pay it.
If it were just a token, say $1/year, the system would be inundated.
The key is to do exactly what they've done, which is to find an amount that is high enough to cover the costs of the requisite background checks and infrastructure, while still allowing anyone who flies frequently and wants or needs a predictable experience to afford it.
Personally, I think they've done a damn fine job, except for this eternal "managed inclusion" stuff.