Gate Screening and Frequent Flyers
Nov 26, 2001 | 12:53 pm
#46
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Henderson, NV, USA
Posts: 174
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Tomphot:
DL has been making announcements and calling out a list of names to report to the special screening area. It really does look like a random process that comes up on the computer. At no time have I seen them just grab people out of line.
The thing that bothers me about DL's system is that they announce that the following people need to report for the special security search. If you are a bad guy who has slipped by up to that point, are you going to walk up with your bag?</font>
DL has been making announcements and calling out a list of names to report to the special screening area. It really does look like a random process that comes up on the computer. At no time have I seen them just grab people out of line.
The thing that bothers me about DL's system is that they announce that the following people need to report for the special security search. If you are a bad guy who has slipped by up to that point, are you going to walk up with your bag?</font>
I have had 40 segments on DL and 2 on UA since September 11 and have been watching the process of DL quite closely.
What I have observed is that if passengers who are on the list try to get on board without the prescreening, they are called back for prescreening and are refused boarding. (At least, this is what I see in ATL and JAN, the two airports I go through the most.)
Of course, that doesn't help if there are "confederates," but no process is going to be perfect.
My personal preference would be to have the computer generate the names (as they currently do), and when one goes to board, they are then pulled aside for additional screening. Hopefully, this will prevent the "I don't want to go first" phenomenon among some FTers, the "choose FTers because they won't complain" phenomenon among some airlines, and the "here, why don't you take my bag on board so they won't look at my dirty laundry" phenomenon with some DL flyers.
