I'm certain it's SSI, but I hear they can't go home till they meet their minimum per shift quota of three foiled terrorists.

The issues with the Black Diamond lanes are (1) the "customer service rep" TSO assigned with the task of desginating which passenger goes to which line cannot tell the difference between an expert traveller and a casual. Wearing a business suit does not make you an expert as I have come to find out numerous bag checks and wandings later. (2) The speed of the lanes is relative to the skill level of the TSOs assigned. When I'm at the TDC table, I'm usually seated next to a colleague that feels like as if he works in the Customs Dept. and must give a minimum 2 minute looking over of every ID, not to mention boarding pass. So, while I'm sending 10 people in in 20 seconds, he's still working on ID one. Then, if the TDC table is getting them in rapidly, you have a line at the X-Ray machine because we have TSOs who feel they must call even the tiniest bottle of eye drops or request inspection of a clump of jewlery in a handbag. Meanwhile the casual lanes are zipping along. Things operated better at my airport before they put the new lanes in.

Some of us FFs here are long haul-only, 4- to 10x/year travelers, and we do just fine at the c/p.

So far at MDW it's been fast 2 for 2. Both times were just after the AM rush (9am flight), but the good thing about the Diamond lane is that it's way over to the right where most people won't even notice the line, but it yields 3 x-ray machines once you snake around the curve and get over towards the C gates. Meanwhile, the Kettles go down the middle chute and into the original set of x-ray machines. No customer service rep TSO in sight.

This setup actually seems to work in the way that I had heard years ago that the 'secret security' line at UA-LAX used to work. If you know where to look, you get through quickly, and there's a high probability that you only know where to look if you know what you're doing.

Hey, that's me! Unknowingly dropped my DL in one of the compartments of my computer bag. 5 loooong minutes searching for it.

Sigh!

IK, don't feel bad -- it happens a lot!

9 out of 10 times, when folks think they've lost their license, it's really in their pocket, or the wrong compartment of their purse, etc.

I often tell people that, to help calm them down when they panic. :)

Of course, if we didn't have to take them out of our wallet, there would be much, much less chance of losing them... :rolleyes:

Absolutely agree. Allowing PAX to self select their level sounds nice in theory but absolutely ridiculous in practice. For those of us who have been elite (CO, DL, AA and UA) in years past but are not currently, I would be happy to purchase an express TSA pass. In fact, I bought a clear pass just for that reason--understanding that it does nothing except serve as a VIP priority line pass for those few airports it services.

But then you are stucfk going wherever they want to go.