ID checkers were twisting and turning every ID they got in their hands, worse than any bouncer I've ever seen. While they looked silly doing this, the meticulous ID checking didn't bother me, but the delay it was causing was enough for me to make an Acela reservation for my next NY trip.

I'll bet that the ID checkers have only been given cursory instruction on what they are supposed to see.

How do you demonstrate you are doing your job to a supervisor who might be watching from across the terminal? Take a good long time clearly examining the object from every angle. @:-)

"I'm not sure what you mean. "

You're in one lineup to get to another lineup. Taking away the first lineup, just makes the second lineup longer. The initial lineup is not the rate taking step. Crashing this would not make your overall wait shorter. You would just lineup in another lineup longer.

The only way this would make the experience longer would be if there was nobody in the actual screening lines but there were people in the ID checking line.

Not exactly. The checkpoint lines can be underutilized while people get backed up at the ID check, without actually running to empty. I've seen it happen many times.