I'm 1K and always fly Polaris for intl so I always go to Level 3 anyways. They have signs for where you go depending on the destination for a document check. Last time I was there, they had no separation between 1K, polaris, premier, etc, it was only destination so I had to wait a little longer. I guess it's too many lines to have a set of premier/1KGSPolaris lines for each destination group. They do have someone at the beginning of the line that quickly glances at the docs. It is surprising to STILL see people in front of me who seem unaware of what documents they need, panic and start arguing, and finally, get turned away. I don't believe they will even let you check your bag unless you can get a BP which requires a document check. So yes, goto Level 3

The overall process has been streamlining more though. Early in the pandemic, they would check your docs at check-in, then they'd recheck again prior to boarding. Last time I traveled, they put a sticker/mark on your BP at check-in, and then they just looked for the marking when you board rather than recheck everything. Maybe the destinations I was going to were more exotic, but the check-in agents didn't seem very familiar with the required documents and I had to "help" to move things along as they tried to interpret TIMATIC. The online document check thing seems to zero effect on this process. It's just extra which can be good or bad.

Any idea why they are doing this?