Milage runners will probably get the questioning look, but then again, most of us are buying restricted-advance purchase fares with multiple segments, purchased online- via credit card, waay out of the terrorist demographice. Also, we are relatively affluent, travelling in comfort, with gobs of ID (don't we all carry our many Silver, Gold, Platinum tiered milage cards with us? for all the airlines we belong to?). I am sure we will get more glances, but with no checked bag and little to search physically but a great willingness to be "search" information/identification wise (we all know the look we get, as soon as we dive into the whole "Milage Run this and that", "Status Miles", and "I got a great fare," blah blah blah!) Those with the power to deny boarding will un-profile an FTer right quick.

A problem I see with all these new rules is they won't help really anything, with the insignificance of the weapons being dealt with, the plastic boxcutter, searches will have to be extremely (most likely overly) exhaustive to be effective. The level and number of misunderstandings/false positives will be high. Will we honestly be able to separate those who have evil intent from those who packed a small paring knife with some fruit in a lunch bag (Now remember before you answer: Those 2 hr flights with no service, we will now have to be 3 hours early for that flight with no meal, meaning at least 5 hours between meals for every segment!) The biggest issue I have going through security is getting ripped off by other passengers or pseudo-passengers, I don't mind a one-minute or more check through my bag, if I and my stuff wasn't, A: On display and exposed to the whole world. and B: I was given the time and care to repack my bag before the security checker runs off to grab the next one.

The true security comes from clearance and security checking of the PERSON, not the belongings. (Kudos to El Al, keep in mind, even with Air Marshals, no Air Marshal has even had to reveal him/herself and use a weapon, everything is questioned-profiled-stopped in ticketing or at check-in or in additional questioning in the airport.) I would rather see multiple checks of persons, passports or second ID for citizen/resident aliens required even for domestic flying, along with some intelligence supplied to the information systems the airlines already have.

This is doable, and also provide customer differentiation to the ones who need it most, the frequent traveller. I should be able to bring to the airport an affidavit with all my info and answered questions, to be signed in the prsence of witnessed by the ticket or gate agent with signature confirmed, stating the appropriate answers to all the presently standard questions (Yes, Yes, No), along with my personal and emergency contact information (like we do now on outgoing international flights).

Not to presume too much, but I would say that a regular traveller or FTer with status and same method purchase of a ticket, smae address in the computer, with similar flight habits over a period of years could be pre-cleared from some of the extreme questioning, but those first-time travelers on an airline, or cash purchasers, or walk-up fares, should be scrutinized at the ticket counter, and the security checkpoint, and as in many european airports before getting near the gate, and then again on boarding.

Yes it is easy to quantify good and bad belongings, but it is the people that are at issue. If the airlines do not begin to profile the actual persons for each flight, and yes a bit of an extension of the idea of a groups of lightly "armed" thugs seizing control. Suppose they were completely unarmed, carrying nothing, but instead of 3-5 on four planes, they just bought all 20 tickets on one plane, I shudder to think that 20 unarmed 25-40 year old male fanatics could probably seize control of a plane with out any weapons. Ugh, I gotta stop thinking about all of this... I'm just an unix consultant, really!

Wouldn't a "preferred security check" be the true perk (and ONLY for status fliers, not even for first-class!) if the airline do control it, they should provide it!

[This message has been edited by unixguy (edited 09-12-2001).]