Originally Posted by
Section 107
A little more to the point - airport operators do not pay the costs of priority lines - they leave it up to the airlines to decide if they want to provide and pay for the staffing of priority lines. This is why at one airport one PSC might have a priority line while at another PSC, where a different airline(s) might be gate dominant choose not to have priority lines. Most airlines are very satisfied with not having the extra expense and to let conventional wisdom chalk it up to the operator or TSA.
Could you clarify paid for? Airline does not pay for TSA staffing as that is already included into the ticket tax. TSA staffing is based on forecast model. I don't see anything to indicate TSA offers a service to airline/terminal to staff beyond forecast model.
As such, if TSA determines they will operate 5 screening lanes during a certain time period, terminal operator/owner can configure their lanes leading up to the checkpoint anyway they want, but TSA will still only staff 5 screening lanes.