How Lucky! Elite Fliers Get Less-Awful Screenings

If Delta trusts you, keep those shoes on
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 11, 2011 12:48 PM CST
How Lucky! Elite Fliers Get Less-Awful Screenings
A sign greets passengers entering a new expedited security line Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.   (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Pretty soon, the humiliating rituals of airport security could be a thing of the past—assuming you’re in the upper echelon of Delta or American Airlines customers. The TSA this week announced it would be expanding its invitation-only expedited screening lines to more airports, the Wall Street Journal reports. These magical lanes let especially frequent Delta and American fliers, or those who’ve paid $100 to join the government’s trusted traveler program for five years (and submitted to an interview with a Customs and Border Protection agent), to breeze through with their shoes on and their laptops in their bags.

The TSA has been testing the program since Oct. 4 in Miami, Atlanta, Detroit, and Dallas, and now it’s expanding it to Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and LA in the coming months. It has said it eventually intends to expand it to include other airlines as well, though it hasn’t said when. “The ultimate goal is to move away from one-size-fits-all” security, one TSA official said. The TSA has come under harsh criticism for its procedures lately, and has promised to improve some of them. (More Transportation Security Administration stories.)

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