That argument is a load of bull.

It takes the same Aunt Hattie crowd making lots of noise to get things changed, as they make up the majority of travelers as a whole. Right now they're accepting of the inefficiencies, largely buying the "it makes you safer" argument. One reason (perhaps the biggest) that they accept that justification is that they don't travel often and thus don't stop to think about or witness how absurd some of the wastes of time are (like the shoe carnival).

I just don't see the "un-American" argument. Sure, maybe all travelers were created equal... yet that doesn't mean they remain equal. Frequent fliers have set themselves apart by virtue of their frequent travel. As the lines are neither set up nor run with any tax dollars, the oft-cited argument about inequal use of taxpayer funds doesn't float (not that any government expenditure has ever been applied equally or fairly, anyway--but you don't see the pundits looking at that, do you?)

As elite lines are an incentive for the airline / airport in terms of retaining frequent customers who are dependable sources of income, then it makes financial sense for them to provide the lines. Too, if you were to consider the wasted time of frequent business travelers as an expense--which it is since they could otherwise be productive--the extra waits they endure really add up quickly. I'd love to see an estimate as to how many lost man-hours are due to the TSA security boondogle.

Given where we are now, I agree.