<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">well, in my opinion, the rules should be applied to everyone equally. At PBI and BWI I have seen flight crews remove their shoes for screening - crews should not have an exemption, nor should TSA staff.
The purpose of this oft controversial process is to screen for prohibited/threatening items, not decide who should be granted easy access to sterile airport areas by deciding some people are "safer" than others by virtue of their employment.
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Flight crew at my airport remove their shoes to, but not because of the shoe policy rule. They remove them because of the shanks inside the bottom of the shoe. If a FC walks through with shoes that meet the height requirement, they don't get pulled over for screening, because there exempt.
Screeners also sometimes remove their shoes because of shanks, but again we're exempt from the height rule.
At least this is what happens at my airport.
[This message has been edited by screenerx (edited Feb 17, 2004).]