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Elite Security Lines Bug Some But Not Others
(continued) |
"I can see the people who pay for first-class
tickets getting better seats," said Gresham, who was headed to
Germany on an unexpected and temporary military deployment. "But
this is security. We should all be even here."
VIP security lines may violate the egalitarian sensibilities of
some Americans, but they've become a permanent fixture of
post-9/11 air travel. Now they're generating more debate as
travelers fret about extended airport wait times after the
thwarted London bomb plot.
The two-tiered treatment of passengers at the checkpoints is
also an element in the debate over the government's pending
expansion of the Registered Traveler program. That's the program
in which travelers can pay a fee — about $100 — and submit to a
background check to use separate, faster checkpoints.
Only one airport, Orlando, offers the program today. But it
could grow to about 20 over the next year.
Privileges add up
So add special security check-in lines to the other privileges
of elite fliers: priority seating, first boarding, coupons for
free drinks and the like. Details of the workings of airlines'
VIP security lines vary.
Typically, airlines offer them at airports where they have a
large presence but not where they are only bit players.
Delta Air Lines, for example, has elite security lines at its
big hub in Atlanta, and in 19 other big airports, according to
spokeswoman Betsy Talton. But it doesn't have them at Houston,
St. Louis or Philadelphia, where its presence is small.
Typically, frequent fliers who log 50,000 miles with a carrier
can use the VIP lines. Some airlines allow those who fly as
little as 15,000 miles a year to use them. Travelers who buy
first- or business-class tickets also get to use them. In some
cases, so do elite-level frequent fliers in programs run by
carriers that have a marketing alliance with the airline being
used.
There are, however, a couple of notable exceptions. Discounters
Southwest and JetBlue simply can't offer elite-security queues.
To do so would violate their iconoclastic, single-class
operating philosophies.
"All of our passengers are elite," says Southwest spokesman Ed
Stewart.
Saving time
John Fischer, a consulting-firm CEO who logs more than 200,000
air miles from his base in Houston, estimates that using elite
security lines saves him five to 10 minutes a trip.
"Time is money," says Fischer. "It's the travelers who don't fly
often who take awhile to get through. They are bringing
everything but the kitchen sink."
Many high-mileage travelers say elite-traveler security lines
are just part of how the American economic system works.
"I pay for the right to preferred treatment," says frequent
flier and first-class traveler Saul Klein, president of
InternetCrusade, a San Diego tech company.
Lori Stumpf, a Washington, D.C., consultant, feels a little
guilty every time she goes to an airport and gets in the short
security line reserved for elite travelers of either of her two
main airlines, United or US Airways.
But not guilty enough to go stand in the sometimes much longer
lines used by most travelers. Airlines, she says, justifying her
decision, still don't do enough to reward their most loyal
high-mileage, high-dollar travelers like her.
"Those of us who are elite just get slightly less (grief) than
the others, and slightly — very slightly — better customer
service," she says.
For its part, TSA wants no part of the debate over VIP security
lines.
It simply screens travelers in the order the airlines present
them, TSA says.
"That real estate in front of the checkpoint is owned by the
airlines," says spokeswoman Amy Von Walter. "Our obligation is
to do the screening efficiently and to keep the wait times to a
minimum."
At DFW, travelers in the regular lines mostly seemed comfortable
with, or at least resigned to, the existence of VIP security
lines.
"It doesn't bother me," said Mike Okoli, a businessman from
Plano, Texas, as he got into the regular security line at DFW.
"If I was in a rush, maybe. But I guess you get what you pay
for."
Greg Smith of Redding, Calif., who was flying home from Texas
with his daughter and father, said he usually doesn't let
standing in the longer security lines for non-elite travelers
bother him. But when he's running out of time, sometimes it
does.
But Smith thinks he has a better idea of how to organize the
checkpoint lines: "If they just had different lines for people
based on how soon their flight is leaving, it would work so much
smoother."
| VIP
lines |
 |
| Other than
Southwest and JetBlue, most U.S. airlines offer special
security clearance lines for their premium customers. A
rundown: |
|
|
| Carrier |
Key
locations |
|
Qualifications for use |
|
|
| Alaska |
Seattle, San
Francisco, Oakland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Anchorage,
Portland, Ore. |
|
Mileage Plan MVP Gold
members; first-class passengers |
|
|
| AirTran |
Atlanta |
|
A+Rewards Elite
members |
|
|
| American |
Dallas/Fort Worth,
Chicago O'Hare, Miami, Boston, New York LaGuardia, Los
Angeles |
|
AAdvantage Premium
Level members; first- and business-class passengers |
|
|
| Continental |
Houston, Newark,
Cleveland, Guam |
|
OnePass Elite; SkyTeam
Elite and higher; Clase Ejecutiva (executive
class); first- and business-class passengers; full-fare
Economy e-Ticket passengers |
|
|
| Delta |
Atlanta, Cincinnati,
Salt Lake City, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles,
Reagan Washington |
|
Medallion SkyMiles
members; Crown Club members; first- and business-class
passengers |
|
|
| Frontier |
Denver |
|
Ascent and Summit
EarlyReturns Program members |
|
|
| Northwest |
Detroit,
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Memphis, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Washington (Dulles and Reagan) |
|
Platinum and Gold
Elite WorldPerks members; first- and business-class
passengers |
|
|
| United |
Chicago O'Hare,
Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle |
|
Premier or higher
Mileage Plus members; Star Alliance Gold customers;
first-class and full-fare business-class passengers |
|
|
| US Airways |
Phoenix, Philadelphia,
Charlotte, New York LaGuardia, Reagan Washington |
|
Silver-level and
higher in Dividend Miles Preferred program |
|
|
| Sources:
The airlines |
|
|
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| |
|
A & I Travel Service |
5124 Poplar Ave., Suite 101 |
Memphis, TN 38117 |
901-291-1400
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