The particular airport that I work in does not allow for us to be in the secure area (even though it is the food court) during lunch or break or even before a shift, because of the illusion that it gives that everyone is standing around. Our break room is a 4 minute walk from the checkpoint. Now on a fifteen minute break that can be quite a pain. We do have to go back through security to go back to work, but no we don't have to wait in line. But neither do any other aiport or airline employees. The funny thing that we find is that there is a "door" where select employees can scan their id badge and go in without going through security. These include McDonalds workers, Starbucks etc. Funny that they can bypass, but those of us with government clearances cannot. Not sure if this is the same at every airport, but it's quite frustrating here.

It does seem at times when the flight loads are low that we are overstaffed. It actually only takes 4 people to run a lane, but during the really busy time, 4 per lane is not enough. In our particular airport we have just learned to deal with less. We envy the ones that are lucky enough to have several useless bodies standing around. Most of our passengers thank us and tell us we are one of the most courteous and professional that they deal with. I'd like to have the opportunity to travel to some of the other 428 airports to see what the differences are.