That's the point, though. At SFO, by "integrating" the line, the non-TSA rent-a-clowns made the wait for both lines roughly the same.

If you waive them over one-at-a-time, that's fine. If you're taking them in herds, like they did at SFO, then you're making elite pax wait when the airlines' intention in funding the elite line was that they shouldn't.

The airline is the one who decided that first class pax don't have to wait -- if coach and/or non-elite pax don't like it, they have a choice: buy a first class ticket or fly more often.

Well, as SFO, at least, such a memo will come down, per the station manager.

I believe people are missing the point. There are two areas: the airline ticket-checking area, and the security checkpoint. Think of them as two hoops you have to jump through.

First, you jump through the airline ticket-checking hoop. Here, they have 2 lines: wealth and proletariat. This is controlled by the airlines.

Next, you have the security checkpoint. Here, there is 1 line, that gets split up equally among the X number of screeners running simultaneously. This is controlled by the TSA, which is the US Government. Anyone who presents him/herself at the checkpoint is treated equally.

Once someone clears the first hoop, and are at the front, they have equal access to ALL of the checkpoint screeners.

Decomposing Screener knows his job, and is doing it. He works for all of us. Hats of to you, sir. (ma'am?)

It sounds like the people at JFK are not doing theirs.

The last time I checked, the "airport security fee" tacked on to each ticket is the same for all tickets. The "elite line" ends where the TSA screening area begins.

Waiting in line is a social contract. The consensus is that a big shoving match/scrum is not a good idea. And so you follow the rules for the line you are in. The rules for the TSA line is "first come, first served".

If you find that it takes too long to get through security, get there earlier. Yes, the casual traveller takes longer to go through the line. But, by definition, they are in the minority!

I think you're confused, AisleSitter. It is not true that all security checkpoints have one line. Some security checkpoints at some airports do indeed have wealth and proletariat lines. As DecomposingScreener has already discussed, there are wealth and proletariat lines at his checkpoint.

This is in addition to the separated lines at the ticketing area.

And as frequent flyers, we, as individuals, pay this fee far more often than the "casual traveller."


I believe that is debatable.


False definition. Although they may be "casual travellers" and individually travel infrequently, there are far more of them than frequent flyers. Individually, their financial contributions toward these "security" measures are negligible.

However, frequent flyers must, by definition, spend much more of their time and money getting to where they need to go. A considerable portion of these individuals' money goes to affording these debatable security measures. They should therefore be accorded a measure of convenience and expedience both at the airline BP/ID check and at the security checkpoint.

I spend 13 hours per week, every week (assuming no delays or cancellations) getting from PWM to MKE and back, and have been doing so since the beginning of April this year . . . some 35 weeks, with 4 segments per week. That's 140 segments, with their corresponding contributions to TSA funding. And I shouldn't expect a little extra convenience, eh?

Yeah, right.

That's the line that I'm talking about with respect to SFO. The non-TSA clowns jumped a herd of non-elites into this line, making for an unnecessary 10 minute wait for elites.

Not every airport handles it the same way. At SFO, there are two separate TSA security checkpoints that are physically isolated, i.e. there is no way for people on the non-elite line to get to the TSA inspection position on the elite line unless they enter the line at the boarding-pass screening position.

That's fine at airports that have one large TSA station. SFO doesn't -- the TSA inspection for elites is physically isolated from the non-elite TSA inspection station (there's an escalator that goes between the two sections).


If Decomposing Screener is taking passengers after they've been through the boarding-pass screening line, yes. If he's jumping non-elites from their boarding-pass screening line to the elite boarding-pass screening line, he is not, and is inconveniencing a class of people that the airlines, who pay for the line, specifically do not want inconvenienced.


So what? The last time I checked, my First Class ticket cost about 10 times what a restricted economy ticket costs. The airline pays for the elite queue, it's my ticket money that funds the airline.

And it's the airline, not TSA, that sets the rules for line, and my contract is with the airline. TSA didn't violate the rules at SFO, the non-TSA clowns who screen boadring passes did. And they won't any longer, according to the SFO station manager.

I've got a better idea -- if I find that airport personnel are violating the rules set by the airline which owns the facility, I'll complain to the airline. Evidently, United agrees with me.

They're not in the minority -- that's one of the reasons the non-elite line is longer.

When did the US Government start treating people equally?