Crews and anyone else that has cutting privileges should definitely say "Excuse me" or otherwise acknowledge that we're cutting in front of someone that's already been waiting for a while. There's no excuse for not saying something, but it is embarrassing. I know that's the reason many crewmembers don't say anything or make eye contact. We often don't have a choice but to cut, but when you have multiple sets of eyes glaring at you it's tempting to just keep your head down and get through the screening as fast as possible. Also, when you do say something along the lines of "Excuse me", the glaring person you're cutting in front of often says something along the lines of "Get to the airport earlier". It's definitely easier to not make eye contact or say anything, but I know that doing so just adds to the impression of the "entitled employee" image. With that in mind, I try to always smile ruefully and say "I'm sorry, can I step in here real quick? Thanks."

Frankly, all of the reasons people say we should screen crew seem a little moot when you consider that not all airports require crews to be screened. It's no secret that at many airports we can bypass security, so unscreened crews have been wandering around airports for years without any problems. Then again, I'm biased.