I'm not suggesting any laxness or difference in how we are treated in "elite/full fare security".

But the line will be much shorter, airlines presumably can finance this line with a higher ratio of personnel to pax just as they do now at the special ticket counter line. These are the highest revenue pax who fly the most on business.

Considering the amount of flying some of these guys did that the FBI either knows about or has discussed already, it would appear to be quite easy. Meetings in Germany, training in England, trips to Vegas, Fla, Portland, a couple of trial runs on the flights, etc. I would assume if they wanted to it would have been easy to get it just on those trips if they concentrated on one airline, but if there was a benefit to having it then they could have just made a couple of mileage runs if they needed it.

That is a nice idea. I would love to see it.

No one is saying that the elites should have laxer security, just a separate line which would be shorter. Let's stay on topic. It's a good idea. What good does a shorter elite check-in line do if you then have to wait half an hour for the x-ray machine?!

To the twits on this board:

If they could figure out how to manipulate ground personnel, plan all this out, and then make it effective, don't you think they could take AAdvantage of the perks provided to frequent flyers?????

I agree. A seperate full-fare/elite line would compliment the existing elite check-in lines. I see the purpose of having elite check-in lines as a perk to speed an airlines' most frequent customers along on
their way to their plane. It shows an appreciation of the value of my time and
an attempt to make YetAnotherTrip a little
less frustrating. Continuing this line of
thought on through security only makes sense.

There are likely to be fewer pax in the elite lines and as FFs or VFFs we're going to have
more experience doing this, be much more likely to have our stuff/ourselves together and therefore less likely to hold it all up for everyone else.

Wouldn't you rather be in line behind people who know the drill instead of Ma and Pa Kettle from Dogpatch all fixin' to ride on one of them air-e-o-planes?


JD

Bear in mind that the FastTrack channels at LHR/LGW are paid for by the airlines. If they are bleeding as much as they claim to be, I don't think they will splash out the extra cash at the moment.

But if they would do so, I would think it at the very least a nice gesture to their respective top-tier fliers.

If you hold a Business class or First Class ticket you can use Fast Track (and even then it is not open all day at LGW) in London. Elites do not count. Security is paid for by the airlines (and thus ultimately the passengers) but it is the responsibility of the BAA at Gatwick, Heathrow, and Stanstead.

Why not just open up more check points?

Or a line for people who have no carry-on?

Lines for people with no carry-ons essentially penalize business travellers paying top dollar to do short trips. They always carry everything on.

Airlines need to focus their efforts on elite flyers and full fare business pax right now. They must get them flying again.

Richard, a line for no carry-on would reduce the length of the other lines. My main premise remains that if the lines are too long, open up more lines--like the supermarkets.

One problem becomes, how do you define what's an "elite" level across airlines? I see a potential for this to be used for an even higher wall around fortress hubs--for example, CVG might allow Silver Medallions, but not Silver Preferred or AC Prestige.

At Lufthansa's hubs in Munich and Frankfurt there are separate security lines for first/business/LH status.

Frankly, what is needed is the addition of enough security staff to speed up the security process. It seems that most of the extra time is being cosumed with hand searches of luggage. Fine. Hire additional people to perform the checks and get the lines moving. This problem needs to be solved or short haul flights will be cirppled--the only people flying them will be those who need it to make a connection elsewhere; others will simply drive.

The security delays are going to become intolerable once people start really flying again. My suggestion would encourage business travellers and high rev pax to fly. Without it, things are too unpredictable at the airport and the business person will seek alternatives to air travel.