Anyone have an online WSJ subscription so we can hear the pax whine?

[embdrvr]

http://users1.wsj.com/lmda/do/check...ine.wsj.com/article/SB116648123466853748.html

I'd like to read the rest of this article.
Ladies and gentleman, we apologize for the delay but due to some whiny a$$es among you we pilots had to wait a long time to get through a security checkpoint that we shouldn't even have to go through in the first place. Now sit down, buckle up, and STFU.

 

[PowerCurve]

"Jumping the Airport Security Line"

Jumping the Airport Security Line

Some Fliers Resent Policy
That Gives Crew Preference;
Seeing the Bartender Go By
December 19, 2006; Page D6
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.
Write to Scott McCartney at [email protected]

 

[mynameisjim]

So the guy is pissed that the pilot that cut him in line was non-reving or deadheading. I can understand that. I sometimes feel bad about cutting the line. But then I realize that I don't care.

Maybe if I didn't have to travel in uniform to keep my full sized toothpaste, I wouldn't be cutting him in line (since I can't without the uniform).

 

[Beechnut]

So the guy is pissed that the pilot that cut him in line was non-reving or deadheading. I can understand that. I sometimes feel bad about cutting the line. But then I realize that I don't care.

Maybe if I didn't have to travel in uniform to keep my full sized toothpaste, I wouldn't be cutting him in line (since I can't without the uniform).

I agree with every thought in that post.

S.

 

[Sig]

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.

Sweet jesus on a pogo stick- what's the issue here? Exactly how much time did that line-cutting pilot take to get through the box?

Furthermore, how much time did Mr. Hughes waste trying to complain about it?

I have absolutely zero shame when I cut a long line at a checkpoint. I sure as heck don't futz around, I move as fast as I can. Heck, if I don't have bags at the time, I usually delay the line exactly zero seconds and get the heck out of the way.

Mr. Hughes needs to rethink what's important here- a uniformed flightcrew member taking off his/her shoes to COMMAND A FRICKIN' PLANE, or his slightly damaged overreaching entitlements.

edit-

I realize the pilot in question was sitting up front after causing that feller's ignominy by cutting the line... but Mr. Hughes needs a strong cup of Puss-B-Gone.

 

[BoilerUP]

I realize the pilot in question was sitting up front after causing that feller's ignominy by cutting the line... but Mr. Hughes needs a strong cup of Puss-B-Gone.

I was thinking Sand-b-Gone, or Vag-a-Clean.

The day I was commuting to work in full uniform and lost all my toiletries & food because of some unstandardized, kneejerk TSA reaction was the day I lost sympathy for "road warriors" getting offended by jumpseating crewmembers jumping line when travelling to/from work.

How long does it take a crewmember or airline employee to get through security? A helluva lot less time than anybody else.

 

[tomcat]

Agreed, the only abuse of the employee cut-through line I have seen was an airport employee taking her three small (all under 12 y.o.) girls with backpacks through. I always ask when cutting in front of pax, though I'm not sure what I would do if one said no. By the way, I jumpseat all the time out of uniform, just tell the guy sitting in the barstool that there is a crew bag coming through the machine while flashing the ID like a big shot (still can't get them to let me keep my airport-friendly shoes on though).

 

[densoo]

WSJ missed the entire point. The TSA does not require crewmembers to go through security, period, right now. All crewmembers went through the equivalent of getting a Secret Clearance after 9/11 when the FAA fingerprinted us and did the deeper background checks. Crewmembers are already "trusted travelers."

All that is required now is that someone check our ID, and this could be done at a separate entrance away from the passengers. Our bags don't need to be checked, just our ID (***************). All of us are familiar with some airports that do this. Some major hub airlines even bus their employees straight from the employee parking lot to the ramp. It is the choice of the airport (and the airline's influence on a particular airport) to not have crewmembers to go through the entrance used for other airport employees. Does WSJ wonder why there are never gate agents, rampers, and food services going through the security lines? Some security checkpoints are setup so you can actually see airport employees pour off the employee bus, all proceed toward security, then the non-crewmembers peel off and go through an adjacent door, in full view of the pax, while the crewmembers plow into the waiting crowd to cut to the front of the line.

Unfortunately, this is through the line where the folks who are paying our bills are going through--first class and business travelers. So they're teeing off the very people they should be coddling. What a world, what a world...

 

[Occam's Razor]

"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."

In the 2002, the GAO approved the DOT/FAA program for flight crew TWIC's. The dual biometeric card (thumb/eye) was deemed "appropriate and cost effective" (fewer TSA'ers needed) and it would "enhance security". Apparently, ID cards are easier to forge or steal than a person's on-file thumb print and retina pattern!

The DHS/TSA has repeatly nixed the idea, suggesting that the cost could be better used for other things.

 

[Flys4Fun]

I have no problem cutting in line through security. For f---'s sake, I'd bet they'd get sick of waiting in security lines to go to work everyday. Besides, wheres the plane going if I'm not there?