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After standing 35 minutes in a security-screening line, road warrior Peter Hughes was miffed when an American Airlines pilot cut in front of him in line. When the pilot sat down in the first-class seat next to him, off duty and returning home, Mr. Hughes was fuming.
"He said he was entitled to it, and he wasn't ashamed about it," said the investment banker, who has accumulated five million miles on
AMR Corp.'s American. "This is the only industry that lets employees cut in front of customers."
With airlines -- not the Transportation Security Administration -- controlling the security lines, airport lobbies and concourses are taking on the same class system that pervades airplane cabins. You'll see it when you head out for holiday travel this week. Instead of those black cloth stanchions controlling crowds, think velvet ropes in the airport lobby.
Airports and airlines allow concession workers to cut to the front of the line at many airports -- though some airports, including Washington's Reagan National and Dulles International, say they try to forbid it. Flight crews cut in line if they don't have a separate screening area. And at some airports, first-class and elite-level frequent fliers get the benefit of separate lines that move them to the front of the queue for screening.
Road warriors complain that many checkpoints don't have special lanes for them and that they should get top priority since pilots, airlines, TSA screeners and vendors are all dependent on dollars from business travelers.
The "Who gets to cut?" question will take on heightened sensitivity when the Registered Traveler program takes off next year. Under Registered Traveler, lines will be carved up more so that those who pay for the program and undergo the background check will get their own lines, or at least access to the front of a line. This could mean longer waits for those who aren't members of the program and don't have other special status.
The airline industry says there's a good reason that pilots and flight attendants can jump to the front of the line: "Airplanes need to get out on time, and they can't without crews," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, the airline industry's major trade association. Still, the practice does cause grumblings from some travelers. After a crew bus unloaded early one morning at Reagan National, holding up travelers in line at 5:30 a.m., a frequent traveler complained on a FlyerTalk forum and found lots of sympathy from fellow road warriors. Most travelers don't seem too bothered by on-duty flight crews walking to the front of the line. Greg Wojcieszak says he understands the need for crews to get to planes quickly. But he gets irked when airport employees cut in front of him. "I'm less tolerant of the bartender at Chili's," he said.
Airport concession companies say bartenders are important. Vendors need to get their workers into position on time, so they encourage airports to give them line privileges as well. "The goal is for employees to be in place to help travelers on the other end," said Rana Florida, a spokeswoman for
HMSHost Corp., a major airport concession company.
In Atlanta, complaints from travelers about crews and airport employees cutting in line prompted the airport to set up a separate employees-only line. "We heard concerns, and I understand the concern," said Richard Duncan, security manager for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
TSA allows security-line privilege by making a distinction between "lines" and "lanes," says spokesman Christopher White. "Lines" are the queues leading up to the ID check. Only when you get inside that do you enter TSA jurisdiction -- the "lanes." The government doesn't give certain people preference at "lanes" -- it's first come, first served.
There is, Mr. White said, "a lot of confusion where the airport ends and where TSA begins."
Indeed, Mr. Hughes got so miffed at preferential treatment for flight crews he complained to American, which told him it was a TSA policy. Then TSA told him it was an airline policy.
One hurdle for TSA approval of the still-developing Registered Traveler program is that TSA doesn't want it to further muddle line issues. "We will not let it degrade or inconvenience nonregistered travelers," Mr. White said.
Of course, a tiered system of who has to wait in line and who doesn't isn't a good solution to the basic problem -- the occasional long security line has added time and hassle to travel, hurting the business for airlines and adding time to the workday for millions of business travelers. The more egalitarian solution, frequent travelers say, would be more efficient security screening for everyone and less likelihood of getting stuck in a long line.
Pilots would much prefer a biometric flight-crew identification card that would exempt them from most security screening, said Duane Woerth, president of the Air Line Pilots Association. Since pilots have control of airplanes behind locked doors, and some of them are armed anyway, it seems excessive to be screening them for sharp instruments if you could accurately verify their identity, and getting them out of lines would speed up screening for travelers, he said
