As Germany (and really most of Europe) face severe airport staffing shortages and surging passenger volume, the German government has suggested a short-term solution: airlines should eliminate premium security lines.
Germany Suggests Airlines Should Eliminate Premium Security To Reduce Waiting Times For Other Passengers
German airports are facing too many passengers and not enough airport security screeners, snarling security lines and leading to a pair of unsavory choices: show up hours early to the airport or miss your flight. To address this shortfall, Germany’s Interior Ministry is hiring temporary workers to fill vacant airport security screenings positions.
But training and background checks are not instant and an Interior Ministry spokesperson has suggested an interim solution: eliminate priority security lines for frequent flyers and VIPs.
“For example they could open ‘fast lanes’ for all travelers and end the privileged treatment a few passengers get. They could smooth out their flight schedules and prevent peak loads.”
Um, no. Just no.
Priority security lines should be considered reprieves for those who must travel often or for those who are willing to pay for the privilege. In terms of special lines for business and first class passengers, sorry…that’s just the way life works and let’s not forget that premium cabin tickets often subsidize cheap coach tickets, making travel possible for a whole new generation of people who in the past would have been priced out of the market.
Of course priority security lines are not just for rich people, but for frequent travelers who have to put up with long lines, airport security screenings, delays, and cancellations almost for a living. Giving these road warriors small perks like shorter lines (or lounge access or the occasional upgrade) is not “privilege” but a small rebate for being a frequent customer (don’t forget, there are quite a few airport taxes baked into our airfare).
So the solution is not to take away from those that have a slight advantage but to hire more people such that lines start moving expeditiously again for everyone.
CONCLUSION
The Germany Interior Ministry has suggested the short-term answer to snarled lines at airports is to jettison premium security lines. All that will do is make life even worse for those who must travel for a living or help lessen the blow of the cost of airfare for others. Nein, danke.
When a premium line is quiet most airports will feed in passengers from the ordinary lanes. That is all the let up in the service there should be. Premiun lines are part of what we pay for, they are not some sort of privileged extra.
Exactly, if the premium lines are working at capacity with premium customers, changing them to normal lines wouldn’t magically increase their capacity.
But when there is extra capacity, they should pull people from the normal lines.
This. It’s not the procedures that are cumbersome (though they can be, for sure), it’s the infrequently flying rubes that are too absorbed and/or ignorant to read signs or follow directions and don’t know what they can/can’t take off or take out that literally ruin it for everyone because they wait until told to remove their belt/shoes/jacket/laptop. 9/11 was 20 years ago and I still can believe there are grown adults that have no idea what they must remove. I don’t care if you’ve never flow before; at this point you have to be living under a rock to have no idea how security works. Keep them corralled to the lines with others that also have no idea what they’re doing. Leave frequent travelers alone.
I know this applies to FRA despite my comment about 9/11, but I’ve been there more times than I’d care to and as a LH hub, it’s just as full of ignoramuses as the US is.
Maybe they are Calmpets, maybe not. The rules are vastly different all over the world.
In a lot of airports now, removing laptops isn’t required anymore, a lot are getting CT scanners. Actually few airports outside the US require shoe removal.
So maybe you get annoyed in a small domestic airport where most people only fly domestic, but in a place like JFK where many people are used to different rules around the world, and not even every terminal there is consistent… well that’s what happens
In some European airports, the lines for premium passengers are in a different place than for ordinary passengers. This would be logistically difficult.
Insert typical “3rd world” comment here.
Happy 4th of July everyone from the greatest country in the world where airline issues do not exist.
Well this is already the case in German airports since months…. the argument of course is always that the Federal Police (Bundespolizei) is responsible for security screening and by law they are not allowed to discriminate one group of passengers vs another… so while you can have different lanes with signage, they cannot prevent anyone from using the Fast Lane if there is one. Had endless discussions with DUS on this topic, not leading to anything as no one takes ownerhsip. The airlines, well sir, we are not in charge of security lanes, the airport, well sir, this is up to the Federal Police, and the Federal Police, well sir, we are not selling tickets or sending out frequent flyer cards, talk to your airline,.. Go figure.
I second this: the priority lanes were shut down at FRA A gates this past Wednesday evening at 5pm ish CET. Security took 1 hour to navigate. I saw many (seemingly domestic?) business travelers just give up and go home. I have never seen as many people sprinting in FRA before.
That being the case, how are BA premium passengers refused entry to the premium lines at BER and have been since it opened while others get through?
Let us implement post haste my suggestion to reduce overpopulation.
Castrate everyone with more than two kids. We can have it on pay per view. Catch people and castrate them every Sunday in Times square. Then they get two free ice cream cones as compensation for the pain. Let’s go America.
Son, just because you changed your name from Random gawande to Debit does not mean you can keep embarrassing me and your mother on a travel blog in such manner.
Lay off the alt-left juice and stop talking about genocidal politics from Mao’s era on a travel blog.
Priority lanes do perpetuate classism and elitism so yes, they should be eliminated altogether. It’s not fair that some humans who have typically more wealth are able to cut the lines.
people should have the right to pay for better treatment
We are not Cuba
Should they also eliminate business class on the flights? It’s really not fair to be able to get better service just because one can afford it.
What’s next, should ban luxury cars and direct all auto factories to produce only Fusions and Camrys?
You won’t get anyting nearly as good as a Toyota–you will get a Trabant and be happy about it.
It’s not just the wealthy cutting those lines. You also have people who have been upgraded, people who aren’t wealthy but can scam/game the system, people whose employers are paying for them to fly in premium cabins, people who have accrued points for whatever reason (some even from flying in economy), etc.
So the claim that’s only the wealthy who benefit from things like premium security lanes is simply not true.
LOL. I’ll gladly stop subsidizing your basic economy tickets too then. Watch them go up 300% and we can all wait in line together.
Then how will rich people skip the line?
Typical Euro socialism.
As an infrequent traveler, this seems like a reasonable interim solution to the issue.
I’m sure it does. But you start to alienate the business class travelers who pay to subsidize your infrequent travel and it’s no good for anyone.
We budget our time to minimize airport time. Taking away expedited security destroys that. We miss our flights and complain, maybe give up flying. Your bargain €20 fare to Ibiza will now be €1000. Smile
1) 99.8% of people flying in business class do not pay for their own ticket – so YOU aren’t subsidizing anything, chachbag.
2) It was a SUGGESTION as an INTERIM solution, until they can get appropriate staffing levels. Quit being fake rich, and acting like you are owed something.
Someone paid for it, so what? The fact it subsidized doesn’t change the fact all airline tickets would be increased without premium travellers. Doesn’t matter if it was individual or business spend.
Maybe it’s time to admit these bullsh*t security screenings really don’t do anything. Pulling everything out of your bag, making sure toiletries are in a some random plastic bag, etc. WASTE. OF. TIME. Like any of that nonsense is going to prevent anything catastrophic. Germany is the worst. Every time I fly through FRA, or BER it’s practically a strip search in the priority lane and after that my (German) car keys always get flagged. I think it’s time for all these airports to bring their screening processes up to 21st century.
He nails it. Stop having us take every goddamn thing out of our bags. Feels like I’m arriving at boot camp, the terse person telling me to do this, do that, and it’s never the same.
Given the number of handguns that are found in carryons in the US, usually in the possession of pro athletes and Republican politicians, maybe we shouldn’t scrap security just yet
Security is there to have their security checkpoint theater show for everyone… what the hell do you need to be comfortable during your theater show for? Just get the people through the lines as quickly as possible so that the planes aren’t fixing more misconceptions due to people stuck in security.
I’ve been analyzing security procedures in different areas around the world and have come to the conclusion that staffing is not as much of the problem as inefficiencies and not properly allocating people where they need to be.
One example, at T5 two weeks ago the line for the F security consisted of four people standing at the X-Ray machine, mostly chatting with each other, one person on the monitor and one person doing secondary screening of bags that got pulled to the side. Given the British love of flagging even the smallest lip balm forgotten in your bag there were nine bags pulled to the side to be hand inspected. Ok, that’s fine, it happens. However, one person doing secondary inspections and four people standing at the X-Ray doing nothing? The result was for those whose bags were flagged they had to wait a half hour for the ONE person to inspect each.
In Germany, the over efficiency and obsession with order and details works against them in many cases. Nowhere else in the world have I been actually detected with a false/positive as having bomb residue on me after a swab. Of course, Germany has though and it resulted in five officers taking me to the side and spending 30 minutes waiting for a supervisor to come, do more swabs, and sign off on me.
So, yes, instead of punishing premium passengers, these countries may want to examine how they allocate staff so as to fix their inefficiencies that are at the root of the problem.
Oh I’ve had the false explosives swab too but not in Germany, in Singapore where they were just as thorough. The irony being it’s two places that are obsessed with order that it has happened.
It’s another stupid idea by a politician who had not been seen a “normal” airport expeciance as he/she only used private jets…..
A even stricter seperation of fast track and non-fast track is the better solution to ensure a smooth and faster security process as (most) frequent flyers know how security will work and how they have to be prepared!
Wonderful idea!! Priority lane is a stupid!
Another example of Woke Gone Wild!
Nothing to d with being “woke”. But you inserting it into this conversation, and using it as a pejorative, says quite a bit about you. And none of it good.
I agree. Matthew here has a smooth brain for sure. I have an idea – flying should only be allowed for people that have the ability to describe how it works, i.e., how is it possible that a metal tube can fly through the air? People like Matthew will be relegated to driving his Hemicuda across country with the stench of his sister”s fluids in the air, reminding him of the previous night’s conquest.
You are correct that you pay more to get more from the airline itself. Security should be just that, security. It should be where all are treated or scrutinized as the case may be equally. Priority lanes and in the US, TSA precheck are just a legalized version of paying the mob protection money to not get hassled. Everyone should go through the same thing if it is actual security. I’d be glad to see it all just brought down to a simple metal detector walk through and be done with it.
Haven’t flown through Europe in far too long, but TSA PreCheck is a joy in the US. I spend time getting a background check and fingerprinted, then pay ~$75 once every 5 years to renew (presumably giving them a chance to re-check any updates to my background). That minimizes what I have to do at the airport, which also minimizes the TSA staff time per person.
What I mostly see delaying people at US airports are the lines to “check in” and check luggage. Who checks in in person anymore? And I rarely have to check a bag. I’ve traveled for 6 weeks from a carryon. Only checked a bag once in the last 10 years, and that was going solo to an unfamiliar Asian country for 6 weeks, being unsure if I would find contact lens solution, warm AND cold areas, etc.
How does this idea even help the issue? Removing priority lines isn’t going to speed anything up. If the priority lane is already being used by customers, removing them will just make everything worse for everyone.
Let me explain how right you are. This is, as @SENflyer notes, a ludicrous idea from an incompetent and overprivileged politician. My wife is from Germany and recently lost her father. She has been in country since May 14 attempting to bring the family’s affairs in order. The indolence she has encountered from government employees at the local, state and national level astounds. Most everyone is on a half-day schedule but paid for a full day and that’s just the beginning, blaming it all on the pandemic. My wife even had a JUDGE tell her how bad the situation is, to her face, a judge, in camera. The people in the German government in charge of the relatively simple process of staffing airport security checkpoints either cannot or will not hunker down and fix it.
In FRA there is no enforcement of regular versus fast track anyways- when living there, I’d often duck into fast track if I saw it was going to be faster. IMO this is a nothingburger
Well, I’m based out of FRA and this is not fully correct…. In recent times the *A Gold Fastrack blocked persons without Status on the BP. However the C-line opens also with all kind of tickets….. On top of that there are employees actvely sending persons without priorities to the priority lines while others kicked me out of the Business Class line while I only had Y with SEN status….
Long story short, there is no role/process visible to any Frequent flyer allowing to find a pattern, resp. and more important to bid on any “process stability” at FRA security. Here some examples:
Last week Thursday at 0800 am at B (East) Waiting time less than 30 sec. there was litterally 1 Pax infront of me.
Three weeks ago on a Wednesday at 0700 at A security, there were no Priority lines, everybody had to queue infront of the scanners to pass the BC check to have a lot of space afterwards. This consumed at least 20 min.
The comments here from all the entitled snowflakes are hilarious. It’s a temporary measure to ease the burden of traveling. God forbid you have to schlum it up with the rest of us
Exactly! Let’s say 300 people an hour use priority security screening, but 600 an hour go through regular security (because there are fewer people who go through priority lines). That means you get 300 more people through with that line open to everyone. Obviously my numbers are made up, but without knowing those numbers, NOBODY even Matthew, does not know if it would not solve some problems. And people saying prices will go up for everyone because of this, gtfoh. I know this is a blog geared towards people who have status and do premium travel, but no one really seems to be actually thinking this through.
In the US we were willing to lose a million people to a virus. Why are we so hesitant to lose a few hundred every year to terrorists? I can only imagine the hypocritical Republicans somehow have something to lose, else it is illogical.
Actually Germany is on the right track with this idea. And for all you naysayers, one out of 3 of you are driving German cars. And virtually all of the naysayers couldn’t define socialism if they were asked to.
You should be able to get better service by paying more at a better steakhouse. No one is required to go to a steakhouse however, you can cook your own. However unless you fly private, or something close to private like JSX, then you have to go through the airport security, no choice. The proper comparison is to public roads, should the wealthy get to avoid traffic jams by always having the option of a toll road? Later, a privately owned toll road?
Yes – that’s capitalism. You can pay extra for better service, whether it’s a toll road, business class service on an aircraft, business lounges, or, in this case, priority screening lines.
This is already the case in Brazil (and I believe Argentina too). Of course, like most pseudoegalitarian measures of the sort, it does not actually affect the wealthy and privileged- VIP packages with PAs, buggies etc are available, as are separate terminals for private planes. Levelling down the middle class is so much easier and politically expedient!
By the way, I am sure that it’s purely by coincidence that the airline which stands to save the most money by such a decision is one that has received huge loans by the German taxpayer while relentlessly looking for ways to cheapen and generally degrade its product. I am certain that Lufthansa will stand up for its frequent flyers and help them get quicker to their randomly allocated middle seats!
Blame shifting…
I have transited through FRA many times, pre-COVID and can say the security lanes have always been awful. Last time I was returning from Bangalore, on my way back to Atlanta, and had a 3hr layover. Even with premium lane access I missed my flight, as did a huge number of others.
That’s interesting. I’ve always had luck with the premium lane (and I lived in Frankfurt for almost two years).
The agency performing security doesn’t get anything extra for that priority security. So why offer it? If someone wants faster, pay for it.
I’d like to state the obvious reason why the German airports will have no reason to implement this.
The airlines pay the airport an extra fee to grant their business class flyers or frequent flyers access to the premium security lane. The government is asking the airport to give up revenue. It’s true the lines for example at BER are shorter at premium security but they are never empty. There would be no speed benefit for the other security lines as the premium line stays busy too. But clearly it works as intended the airlines and by extension the airports best customers have a bit less of a miserable travel experience.
Just an observation: the font on this website is hard to read, you should consider changing it to something more reader friendly.
What exactly is hard to read?
I disagree and I have premium boarding privileges as an elite flyer on skyteam. Is it anymore secure for everyone to take our laptops and other devices plus take their shoes off? Not in my book and several security experts have told me it’s just for show to make the public feel safer.
There are times I have noticed some elites get put in the line as everyone else only they aren’t taking shoes off, etc.
Sorry but the Germans are onto something here.
Shut down the fast track lines just like the nuclear power plants. Egalitarianism will save the world!
I just came to watch the entitled cry about losing a privilege that they “earned”. Usually earned because their employers pay their way. The elitist douchebaggery on this site knows no bounds or equal.
Ah, the politics of envy. U mad, bro? My status is self-funded. I don’t care much for OPM tough guys, either, though.
Here’s the only issue: if staff are controlling entry to the priority lanes, those are folks who could be deployed someplace else. Those staff-hours could make a difference, reducing TOTAL delay.
Otherwise there’s no point.