Makes no difference to me, but it's a dumb idea:
I guess at larger airports it might work to some degree. It won't at mine. We already have one lane dedicated for a combination of selectee passengers, airline crews, airport employees and special cases such as people travelling with young children in strollers, people escorting passengers with disabilities, etc. Dedicating a second lane for frequent flyers just wouldn't work. The only way I can see it working is if we added frequent flyers to the list of people that already go into our single dedicated lane, but they will be bumped by airline crews, airport employees and selectee passengers.
As for the exemption of removing shoes and laptops from the bags, I think the article's author is guilty of wishful thinking rather than reporting the facts. Shoes and laptops have to be inspected in a certain manner regardless of someone's status as a selectee. Even airline crews and airport employees have to remove their laptops for x-ray examination. Shoes that have steel shanks are going to set off the WTMD. Shoes that match a certain criteria will have to either be inspected by x-ray examination or with explosives detection technology. As for laptops and other electronics, if they are not removed from the bag, x-ray operators will have no choice but to have them physically inspected. I don't think the reporter researched this information thoroughly.
But, as I said, it really makes no difference to me. When you come in the checkpoint, I will apply the exact same screening methods as I do with anyone else. How you enter the checkpoint will be transparent to me, but it won't be to your fellow travelers who will be wondering why your ticket is so much more special than theirs. In that respect, unless you are made to pay extra for the privilege of cutting lines, then this is an elitist approach.
By the way, the 9/11 hijackers were also frequent flyers. They flew these same routes to learn patterns and to establish themselves as "regulars" on these ill-fated flights. This experiment will either fall on its face or you frequent whiners will get exactly what you've asked for and not realize the cost in terms of weakened security.