Deadheading crew members can be in the same bind for time as "regular" crew members who have to be on the same plane. Without the deadheaders, there could actually be greater risk of a plane not flying elsewhere since there might not be any spare crew at the destination.

Trying to distinguish between deadheaders in a hurry, deadheaders with time, regular crew in a hurry, and regular crew with time isn't worth it -- the OP should just get himself & his stuff to the checkpoint on time & not worry about it.

I really debated putting in the details of what happened at STL because I knew there would be people who would focus on that instead of the more general question I was raising.

Oh well. I guess the standard Flyertalk "find any reason to beat on the OP" policy remains in effect.

My bad. Should have known.

OPos.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I actually do use the regular line unless I'm in a hurry. I know I'm probably one in ten thousand people who do that, but it's true. I'm just the kind of person who gets embarrassed by being "special" - although I don't begrudge those who like and use the benefits of status.

I never really thought about it in this context but I suppose the elite line does have the same impact on the reg pax as the crew pass does on me. I think one of the reasons the deadheaders bothered me so much was that it made them seem to be in a higher social class than me. Now that you've pointed this out I'm re-evaluating my objections to the policy. Have to say that I can't object to it as much now that I realize it was more about feeding my ego than anything else.

Thanks for posting that. I'm changing my mind on this.

Cheers,
OPos.

After thinking about the comments here perhaps one good solution would be to have a priority line ala what they do at passport check in AMS.

Have a priority line dedicated to elites, flight crews who are actually operating aircraft that day, AND others - both regular pax and repositioning flight crews - who are within 30 minutes of departure.

I think this would work out great for everybody and reduce a lot of stress at security for those who are running late. It would also address the issue of how to enforce a no-jumping policy for deadheaders.

At AMS there's a board and/or a person that will tell you if your flight is close enough for you to use the priority line. The same type of policy could easily be implemented by the TSA ID checker.

I'm not saying that this is a perfect solution, but I think it would cut down on some of the frustration everybody feels at security.

Cheers,
OPos.

In this case there was no chance. I was about fifth in line and they just marched up and dropped their bags on the belt as most crews do. I would generally not have challenged them anyway as I understand that flight crews are also under time stress - both to make the flight on time and to show up as close to departure as reasonably possible to ensure they maintain maximum available service hours. If there had been any indication that they were deadheading or if they hadn't been in uniform I probably would have said something.

If it had been another pax barging up front I would - and have - pointed out to them that I'm also in a hurry if I actually am. I'm sure others here have had the same issue with people who think that being less than one hour early to the gate is a life-threatening experience that requires them to jump to the head of the line. If I'm running late too I'll politely point out that I'm in just as much of a hurry as they are and stand my ground. At the same time I also have no problem with letting folks in actual need move past me and will often volunteer it if I see somebody who's obviously in a rush.

Cheers,
OPos.

You actually missed by a couple minutes, not a couple seconds- The GA had already closed out the flight and printed the manifest. So, the pilots didn't make you miss it; even without them you wouldn't have been on time.

Pilots jumping the line isn't really any different from having standard and elite lines. I "jumped" the line at PIT this morning. The standard line snaked back and forth, maybe 50 pax, the elite line had three pax in front of me. Someone in that standard line could have made the same complaint about me that you just made.
That was a former employee, not a current employee. It is a waste of energy and time to screen an active pilot. They don't need guns and bombs to bring down a plane- just flaps and a joy stick.

The thinking on this - at least according to a friend of mine in the military/security sector - is about coercion of a pilot or FA, not the danger from the pilots themselves.

I guess that there have been instances where flight crew members or their families have been threatened with violence by drug cartels unless they acted as smugglers. The thinking therefore goes that a pilot could be coerced into bringing something into the sterile area and passing it to another person for use. It's a plausible scenario - if you didn't screen the pilot would face the choice of anonymously contributing to a hijacking or having his/her own family killed. Screen the pilots and it's one less issue to have to worry about. My friend complained 'til his face was blue about the proposal to allow pilots to carry sidearms for the same reasons.

I can see why this would be a concern although I personally think it's a little too paranoid. You have the same potential issue with law enforcement being allowed to brings arms into the secure area. My friend responds to this with a quote from a movie: "It's not whether you're paranoid, it's whether you're paranoid enough."

Cheers,
OPos.

Just a clarification. Any crew member who is deadheading is on duty. Subject to change of flight plans like any other crew member on duty.

I would assume then that hours spent deadheading count against available flight hours for that period? Do you have the same reporting times as a deadheader?

Cheers,
OPos.

Crew can cut in front of me at anytime, without them, I'm not or someone else isn't going anywhere.

Yes. A crew deadheading is on company time and subject to the same report times as a crew actually working a flight. While away from base, we're all on the clock and being paid per diem and flight hours.

I don't mind flight crew "cutting the line," for me I have a different but similar pet peeve. When there is a line at security and airport or airline employees call for people on flights that are currently boarding. If people can't get to the airport in time to go through security then they should miss the flight. I got there first so I get screened first.

It might sound mean, but it's true. Why should another passenger be able to cut in front of me because of their own poor planning and expecting to get through security and board a flight within 15 minutes? This happens at YYZ a lot. The lines are there for a reason (elite or regular) and should be respected by passengers.

Whenever I arrive at a very large airport like YYZ or ATL, I always arrive two hours before my flight, as suggested by the airline and airport. Perhaps if the OP followed that (or at least somewhere close to that) he wouldn't have had the problem.

Not likey, My wife and I were in line at OGG last February leaving to go home, we were the next in line when a flight crew came through, 7 of them, pilots and flight attendants all came thru and all we could do is stand there and wait. the pilot appoligized to my wife for cutting and he said "we know your flight is before ours", but didn't stop them from doing so. In the long run it didn't matter because we planned appropriately for time.

There is the old adage "rank has it's privilage" and that applies, even to elites, whenever you get to get in a shorter line because of your status, it is no different really to what flight crew do, they just have more "rank".

Like I said, banging on the OP without bothering to read the thread always wins the day at Flyertalk.

Cheers,
Mazo.

I realize that every airport has totally different layouts, and situations, but here in PIT, there's a general snaking type line (as mentioned above), a FC / Elite / Preferred line, and an employee / wheel chair line. As many employees as an airport needs on the secure side of security, restaurants, shops, maintenance, pilots, GA's, FA's, ramp, yada, yada, you'd think there would be a need for a separate security line for employees at all airports!!

I read the post. Banging on others and assuming the worse also apparently wins the day.

Maybe if you read my post you would realize that wasn't the emphasis or point of my post. I simply wanted to add to the conversation regarding line-jumping. I have a different take on my preferences in that regard.

ATL seems to do this fairly well, even with their weirdly snaking two regular lines together. However, the expert line is appreciated for people who don't have status necessarily but travel fairly frequently and don't need the rundown on security practices (like myself).

Well, then how did you miss the part about me showing up in plenty of time and taking full responsibility for leaving the item in the rental car and having to go back for it?

I only blamed myself for what happened. My point was about the line policy and how I thought it was not a good customer relations position for the reasons I stated. I never asked for anybody's opinion about whether I was showing up to the airport on time. That sure doesn't jive too well with your comment about how I should be managing my schedule, now does it?

There's just too much of this nonsense going on here these days. This place used to be filled with people who just wanted to exchange info about the system. Now it's filled with people who just love to take cheap shots at people every chance they get. Even MikeMpls - someone who is normally a helpful, courteous, and very knowledgeable poster here felt it necessary to make a snarky comment in this thread rather than to just contribute to the discussion at hand.

The mods had to close down another thread earlier today because people just couldn't help but make these kinds of pointless, stupid comments about the OP. Almost every thread that gets started now days ends up with some base comment about how the OP is just whining and should just suck it up and live. Until we start calling out people who persist with this nonsense we'll never get rid of this rude and senseless behavior.

I appreciated your perspective on the line-jumping issue. That was helpful.

What I didn't appreciate was your comment about how I needed to better manage my life. That was pointless. I already address that in the original post. There was no need for you - or anybody else - to pull it off topic just to take an extra dig and a cheap shot.

Just my $0.02. I'm sure others will be more than willing to disagree and pound on me for saying it. After all, that's what people are here for these days, isn't it?

OPos signing off.