Originally Posted by
ralfp
I was not aware that Starbucks was a government mandated "service". I don't know if elite lines are violations of civil rights, but there is something disturbing about a private company controlling access to government mandated screening, a screeing that every pax, regardless of status or fare, paid the same amount for.
Actually, the bit about "paid the same amount" is not entirely true. Frequent fliers pay a ton more in terms of the "9/11 fee" than once-a-year fliers. And connecting fliers pay more than direct-flight pax even though they go through security the same # of times, regardless of how often they fly.
Somewhat similarly, you can e-file your taxes with the IRS for a fee, or file them via the mail and paper forms for free. One method gets you your refund much more quickly than the other, for those willing to pay for it.
Originally Posted by
ralfp
Saying that the speed of a service (the length of the lines) is not part of the service does not make sense to me. If the wait for screening is two hours, who do you blame: the TSA, not the airlines or the airport authority.
And you'd be right to blame the TSA, because they are the ones who control the actual
screening and thus how long it takes pax to get through it. Do a better job at catching real threats to security and ignoring idiotic things like water bottles, lip balm, lighters, pocket knives, etc., and they'd probably move everyone through a lot faster. (I'm not claiming the elites don't get through security more quickly in most cases, but that the TSA could have a much higher impact on transit times than any amount of line wrangling).
Originally Posted by
ralfp
This may not be a perfect analogy, but: What if the DMVs (car/driver agency) in your state leased office space from car dealerships, and only BMW drivers could use elite lines for services. Everyone else had to wait on the regular lines. Would this would be okay, since the lines are not "operated" by the DMV and they would feed to the same service counters? I think non-BMW drivers would disagree.
They could always go to the dealership they bought their car from, who presumably would offer elite lines for their customers. @:-)
