Originally Posted by
exerda
But all passengers don't pay the same fees. I pay more if I connect, even though I don't use security at the connecting point. And I may pay airport-specific fees that are unrelated to security, but again pay them unevenly based on whether or not I connect. And frequent fliers pay a lot more in those same fees overall, too, simply due to the # of tickets they purchase.
All fliers, on average, pay the same fee per screening suffered. I seriously doubt that frequent fliers make more connections than infrequent fliers (mileage runners aren't that common).
There'd be nothing wrong with giving frequent fliers (any airline) elite treatment based on segments per year. Of course doing that might be tricky.
The government should not reward moderately frequent fliers (25k-50k miles/year) for picking flights based on airline loyalty instead of price. Elite treatment at security lines discourages competition for this market (I speak from experience).