Sidestepping the lines also has nothing to do with TSA’s program to speed security for people deemed to be of low risk, called PreCheck. People who qualify for PreCheck after undergoing a background check and paying an $85 fee have special lines that move faster because they don’t have to take off shoes or remove laptops and liquids from their bags.
An airline’s streamlined queue saved Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition advocacy group, from missing a flight a few years ago at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
After a meeting with United officials ran long, an airline manager at the airport escorted him to a special portal for its top customers, Mitchell said in an interview.
Special Rooms
“It wasn’t part of the concourse or the gate,” Mitchell said. “It was in a separate part of the building just to whisk VIPs through the security line.”
Large hubs like O’Hare occasionally have special rooms and hallways through which customers can bypass lines, but there are no screening facilities devoted solely for VIPs or first-class passengers, according to airlines and the TSA.
Mitchell said he supports airline efforts to grant special privileges in screening lines. “If you’re a movie star from Hollywood, there’s no way you’re going to the airport three hours in advance,” he said.
Matthew Welty, a former Facebook Inc. software developer who is now a consultant, marveled at a recent flight on Delta from San Francisco to Los Angeles after the airline gave his group of travelers access to an expedited screening line and other shortcuts.
"We got to skip the whole terminal experience that day," he said. "It was pretty unparalleled service."
Elite Travel