“You have the US Air credit card? Proceed to your flight, sir!”
Apparently I am less likely to be a terrorist because I have a credit card.
Ever since I laid out $400 for the new American Airlines-US Air merger credit card and special flyer’s program (it included two round trip tickets to any domestic destination), I have been able to use the “pre-screened” line for my US Air flights. That means my shoes don’t have to be x-rayed, my computer can stay in my brief case, I don’t have to take off my belt (a key benefit, as my pants have fallen down during screenings on three occasions) and I don’t have to take off my jacket.
I also can now skip long lines, as the poor peasants in the adjoining lines glare at me as one of the hated Privileged of the Air. Oh—and since I have an artificial hip that sets off the old-fashioned gates (that’s all you get at the Pre-Screened area), a TSA agent will escort me to that spinny thing that takes nude magnetic imaging photos so I don’t have to get a sexual molesting, of which I have complained about bitterly in the past. He pushes through all the other passengers waiting in line, –the fools! Bwahahahahah!— and takes me right through. “Pre-screened!” he says, and that’s all there is to it.*
But I wasn’t “pre-screened,” was I? I just paid a fee to get a credit card. Boy, wait until terrorists catch on to the credit card loophole. KaBOOM!
How can the TSA claim that all of their annoying, humiliating, obtrusive procedures are necessary to protect our safety, when so many of those procedures will be waived for flyers who have the resources to plunk down the money for a premium credit card? It can’t.
Please tell me that the only reason these procedures are still required isn’t so the airlines have something to barter in exchange for money.
Please.
* Once, I didn’t even have to do that. I used the gate, and the alarm went off. I said: “This is a metal hip–you’ll have to wand me and pat me down.” “Nah, never mind,” the TSA agent said. “You can go.”
Ethics Alarms 
And the TSA doesn’t think that terrorist would purchase these cards so they can get aboard a flight easier. Not likely!
When I went to DC a few months back, everyone was getting that treatment at Denver International Airport. It was like they were taking a holiday from their procedures and everyone kept their shoes on. Laptops stayed in their bags. Belts stayed on hips and coats on shoulders. It was a bit “weird”, but knowing that security had worked like this for decades before the “age of terror” it was a nice flashback to the good old days. (I was even able to position myself in a metal-detector line and sailed right through.)
Though, I will say that DIA is probably the first airport where they try all of these experiments out. It’s their personal playground for testing procedures.
Along with doing a credit check a background check was done and found you had not been to a country known for training camps, there are no gaps in your history and no other red flags.
Understand that almost all screenings are primarily deterrents, there are ways through almost any security. By agreeing to get the card and being screened it removes some of the unknowns of the individual using mass transit. The others standing in line have not agreed to have their background checked, even though the information is ready available to the government if needed. If they found something suspicious about one of those individuals the next step would be check their records.
They are still screening the baggage and carryons where an explosive device with enough energy to bring down an aircraft would likely be located.
But the point about hypocrisy remains. I hold a security clearance. I’ve had my background investigated thoroughly to include having fingerprints on file and–essentially forever–surrendering certain rights to privacy and free speech.
I *should* be able to just board the flight with nothing more than a hearty “Welcome aboard, Mr. Zechman!” . . . if risk mitigation is the primary concern.
BUT NO. It’s getting a CREDIT CARD that puts me on the “nice” list.
I have long said that TSA is more interested in the appearance of security than the actual thing.
–Dwayne
Depending on airport that rewards line is paid for by the airline, the pre screening still occurred.
If you have your clearence then go get your gov traveler iD number, it works much the same and most airlines reward lines can be used with ID and ticket. You can use you traveler ID number/w gov id even when traveling on personal business.
Either way your belongings are still going to be checked…
What your getting with the card is additional services once your pre screened, not hypocrisy.
As for the appearance bit I agree to a large degree, it is still a deterrent however.
Same thing with me, Dwayne.
My poor mother had an artificial knee and a dialysis port and she got the secondary search every…..single….time…she came to see me. Late 70s, in a wheelchair as she couldn’t walk long distances, and she was a threat, kept in the box until she could be wanded. They also threw away her jar of apricot jam. I know we all slept safer that night…
Your poor mother who was screened…..every……single time was because of the wheel chair and med equipment not because she was 70 years old. It sucks and it is no fun but should possessions of those over 70 be exempt?
Yes, when they are medically necessary. And because she’s 70 and can hardly walk on her own. But mostly NO ONE should be subjected to these types pat downs or naked scanners. They are unnecessary and do not make us safer.
Basically, serious handicapped aren’t supposed to be able to travel with any dignity or comfort.
I just got back from taking a group of students to Ireland. Apparently either our Study Abroad Coordinator or the travel agent she worked with arranged for both my wife and me to be pre-screened in Houston. No one told us that, of course. Still, even having gone through the regular queue, we saved a little time by not having to take shoes off and so on; we were ready to go when all the students had passed through the regular screening, so we could answer questions, etc.
In Shannon on the return trip, I was searched by TSA. (Shannon is one of the airports where passengers clear US Customs and Immigration at the front end of the trip instead of on arrival in the US.)
At least one of these occurrences makes no sense.
At least.
I just got back from Puerto Rico. At the airport, I was sent to the “prescreening” lane. Then, after being ID’d, I was sent to the exact same line as everyone else.
I have it on good authority that the TSA has an ongoing alert for bald men, Jack. I suggest that you wear a Weird Al Yankovic wig when traveling overseas.