TSA Precheck - Decline in
Jul 7, 2015, 11:38 am
#121
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: AA
Posts: 14,743
Today was my first time not getting it, after enrolling last year. I shouldn't have been surprised though as this entire trip was one big screw up involving airports and airlines. That being said, once I finally got to the front of the security line, I got directed to the Pre lane anyways, thank goodness.
Jul 26, 2015, 6:24 am
#123
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,863
Jul 26, 2015, 6:44 pm
#124
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Suburban Philadelphia
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG Gold
Posts: 3,392
I only got here because FlyerTalk said it was a 'hot topic'. But it's all actually quite meaningless to me, I have no idea what you are all talking about. But one thing jumps out.
100/200/300/400 people turn up at an airport - they all want to get on the same plane. Lots of other people are arriving to get on different planes. There are x staff to process these people through security. Some kind of maths says that equates to a wait of some minutes. Some folks aren't happy about this, they think because they are frequent flyers, wealthy, important, whatever they should wait less than that number of minutes, ideally no minutes at all. So they pay money to achieve that. The amount of money isn't important.
But this is a zero sum game. The people who organise that security don't take the money and hire more staff, get more machines or do anything else to ensure that people reducing their wait-time doesn't have the effect of increasing wait-time for those who don't or can't pay.
By what logic of human relationship is it fair or equitable that because you have money I have to wait longer?
100/200/300/400 people turn up at an airport - they all want to get on the same plane. Lots of other people are arriving to get on different planes. There are x staff to process these people through security. Some kind of maths says that equates to a wait of some minutes. Some folks aren't happy about this, they think because they are frequent flyers, wealthy, important, whatever they should wait less than that number of minutes, ideally no minutes at all. So they pay money to achieve that. The amount of money isn't important.
But this is a zero sum game. The people who organise that security don't take the money and hire more staff, get more machines or do anything else to ensure that people reducing their wait-time doesn't have the effect of increasing wait-time for those who don't or can't pay.
By what logic of human relationship is it fair or equitable that because you have money I have to wait longer?
Number 1 - I don't get to bypass the longer security lines because I'm "wealthy." I get to bypass the longer security lines because I have undergone an extensive background check to demonstrate that I am a very minimal security risk.
Number 2 - The money I spent (equal to $20 per year, hardly the kind of money that only the "wealthy" can spare) goes to pay for the costs associated with conducting the above-mentioned background check. It has nothing to do with making your wait longer or extra personnel to man the pre-check lines.