V.I.P. Treatment Eases the Way Through Security

Big spenders get special treatment – the world was ever thus. And those who spend the most money also receive increasingly preferential treatment at airport security.

Desperate to shore up shaky profitability, many airlines offer additional benefits, including elite access to security lanes, to the customers who generate the most revenue – that is, their top-tier business travelers. At the same time, under public pressure, the Transportation Security Administration is retooling its much-disparaged security procedures to spend less effort focusing on travelers with profiles indicating that they’re probably not great security risks – that is, the most frequent fliers.

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