sylvia3

My taxes pay for the TSA, correct? So why do these people usher first class ticket holders through before everyone else? They paid for an upgraded seat on a private airline, not special upgraded treatment at a public airport! This bothers me. It is very un-American. It's bad enough we have to take off our 1/2 inch plastic flip-flops (which is not required), and get threatened with special screening if we don't, but when several of us in line were bothered by first class (or business, or whatever it's called)folks breezing by us, the concensus was "keep quiet, or you'll get singled out for secondary screening." And it's true.

rkkwan

The TSA don't care who gets to the security check-points. The lines are set up by the airport and the dominant carrier at that airport. The persons who check your BP and ID before letting you in the line aren't TSA agents either.

Now, since the people flying FC and the "elite" do generate more revenue for the airlines, it's very reasonable that they should get preferred treatment.

AustinTraveler

I don't understand the "un-American" comment. Certain people getting preferential treatment is about as American as it gets! Like Paris says, it's hot!

J_Correa

I thought we were capitalists here. How is it unamerican to offer better treatment to people who pay more for their flight? Is it also unamerican to offer nicer hotel rooms to people who pay a higher rate?

sylvia3

what nonsense! I can read the badges, see the uniforms, and I know very well exactly who they were, and they were indeed TSA. And no, there should NOT be preferential treatment of the "revenue generators" until they get to their designated gates. Then they can have peeled grapes dropped into their open maws by scantily clad FAs and be serenaded for all I care.

rkkwan

What airport and which terminal do you fly out of? Which is the dominant airline at that terminal?

Intrepid1

Sweetie, you get what you pay for...just ask the President!

ipod_robbie

By the time I get to the gate I've already had my fill of peeled grapes served to me by scantily clad FAs at the 1st class lounge, which I happily pay for.

And while we're at it, since I'm first on the plane, I get my pick of open overhead bins, and I almost always have an open seat next to me for elbow room.

God bless America.

Loki

Scantily clad flight attendants? What dream is this from?

IamBooth

My wife and I usually purchase first class seats if the flight is more than a couple of hours. I have yet to experience these grapes and these hot babes you are talking about. As a matter of fact, many times the food served is as crappy as the stuff you are getting in the back of the plane.

sylvia3

Yes, yes, yes--duh! Of COURSE if you pay through the nose for the best hotel room, you should get the best hotel room. The POINT is that we, as taxpayers, are all paying for this together; it is a Federal agency, not a private arm of any particular airline! Yoiks, try to get the intention of the original comment, not wander off into "you get what you pay for" land! People are paying for special treatment on the airplane (or for the club associated with), NOT to be red-carpeted through the federally-mandated security checkpoint.

rkkwan

Let me ask again - what airport, which terminal, which airline?

canterbury

Please correct me if I'm wrong. But I was at MCO (Orlando) last week and for $80 you can purchase "special treatment." I only glanced at the display, but I did see that they offer anyone (first class and frequent flyers are probably their main targets) the opportunity to go through security, etc, quicker and with fewer hassles. Sounds like a great deal to me (and I don't fly all that much.)

Callaloo

Well, if we're going to get all academic here ... we don't all pay the same amount in taxes. Why, then, should we expect to get treated equally by the TSA? Maybe we need Platinum Taxpayer status to get VIP treatment through the lines at security, and at the MVA, etc.... If you have Gold Taxpayer status, you get to skip the shoe check...

highflyer

Just take off the flip-flops. They're screening for your safety and yes, sometimes, they seem a little power mad but would you want their job?

P_M

Has the TSA forgotten that on 9/11, the bad guys all flew First Class? I think First Class passengers s/b checked even more thoroughly.

On a serious note, I never object to extra screening at the airport.

TioGringo

Preferential treatment by government employees is *NOT* acceptable no matter what kind of B.S. arguments you have about first class passengers generating revenue for airlines.

TSA checkpoints are not airline services.

First class pax have *NO* right to expect preferential treatment there.

If you agree, please complain to the TSA and PLEASE write to your congressmen and demand that TSA employees stop giving perks to high dollar airline customers.

If nobody complains, the wheel will never get greased.

rkkwan

There is no preferential treatment for passengers in the FC or "elite" lines at the airport. They are subject to the same screening as everybody else.

[There are some pilot programs that some frequent flyers can apply to, and subject themselves to some background checks. But that's beyond the scope of this discussion.]

As I said earlier, TSA controls the screening posts, but not the line. And the person who checks one's ID and BP are not TSA either. [Gosh, if a federal agency like TSA would hire those checkers at EWR Terminal C, then I think this country has much more stuff to worry about then a few more 9/11-type attacks.]

Anyways, again it's up to the airport authority and the dominant airline at that particular terminal how to set up the lines, and whether or not there will be a FC/Elite line. TSA doesn't care what class you're flying or if you're elite. Whenever you get to their checkpoint, they'll screen you.

As for flip-flops, I have successfully gone through multiple TSA checkpoints without removing my sports sandals. And no one has uttered a word or put me to secondary screening. I will continue to wear sandals whenever possible through airport security, until my experience changes.

BTW, I have asked the OP twice already which airport does she find TSA agents directing passenger traffic. Only with more information can we suggest her to contact the correct agency about this "problem", if there is a problem. It could be TSA, could be the airline, could be the airport authority. Maybe her congressional representative may help, or not. I'm still waiting for her reply.

FainaAgain

I don't agree that it's unamerican. In this country everything is done for money. 1st class tickets are more expensive then couch. Money talk. As everywhere.

Sylvia, you're talking like a socialist demanding equal treatment. If you'd have a 1st class ticket and skip the line, would you go back just because you want equality? I think not!

sylvia3

I will repeat, then never read any more of the elitist drivel spouted here, that it was TSA, TSA, TSA routing everyone with FC into the special line that they set up just for them. AND I'm a FF who uses the benefits derived therefrom to take my family on vacations. AND this behavior has been seen by me in PHX, DEN, SFO, LAX, and Buffalo, more probably, but those are the most recent that have rankled. I'm very happy for those of you who fly first class and expect and deserve those extras--next thing we'll work on is a separate line for, say, voting?