Reserve Your Spot at the Front of the Line at an Airport Security Checkpoint?
Will it one day in the near future be easier for you to avoid long lines at the airport security checkpoint? Photograph by FlyerTalk member CDKing. Click on the photograph to access a discussion pertaining to the Transportation Security Administration considering “Randomizers” to sort people through lines at airport security checkpoints in the United States.
Have you ever arrived at the airport to catch your flight — only to have a long line at the security checkpoint greet you even though you have elite level status in at least one frequent flier loyalty program? Are there times where the Pre✓ program offered by the Transportation Security Administration of the United States is not always helpful in expediting your passage through the airport security checkpoint?
Now at one airport, you can enter your flight number on the official Internet web site of the airport and receive a text message with a reserved time for a designated checkpoint. You then arrive at your assigned time window and use the text message as a ticket to enter the priority line.
Thousands of passengers have already used this new system — known as the SecurXpress service — at the international airport which serves Montréal…
…and the service is offered free of charge.
FlyerTalk members seem to have responded positively to this idea, with at least one FlyerTalk member hoping that this system arrives at the international airport located closest to him.
This program initially seems like a good idea to me — and it is supposedly expected to appear at other airports this year. However, could the SecurXpress service offered by airports potentially rival one of the benefits of having elite level status in frequent flier loyalty programs offered by airlines?
What do you think?
Who cares if some people think it rivals with their elite status benefits? As long as you get more service, and free of charge(!), what is there to complain about? Don’t start looking for problems where there is none.
I personally do not care, erik19283 — but those people who are part of the staff of frequent flier loyalty programs might care, as that could become one fewer benefit to laud pertaining to why you should earn the elite level status they offer.
At YUL, it’s only good for checkpoint A which serves international and domestic flights. This security checkpoint if much more lax because it doesn’t have to follow US regulations for security, and therefore the wait times are normally low. The US checkpoint B is normally very congested and can be backed up for 40 minutes or more. It would be nice to have the service available there.