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If you make it free, then everyone will choose the fastest one.. which means it will no longer be faster. So in order for time saving measures to work, you have

If you make it free, then everyone will choose the fastest one.. which means it will no longer be faster. So in order for time saving measures to work, you have to require selectivity. Paying is an easy way to select for those who value it the most, which are the frequent fliers. If you’re a business traveler or otherwise someone who travels a lot, the price is small compared to the flights and the time saved is very large. That will be the inverse for those who need it least, the infrequent travelers. Yes some people who travel infrequently will choose to pay for the faster line, but then they are also subsidizing the extra cost of staff to run the other systems. The idea that this is meant to put tranches of society on display is ludicrous. Knowing a number of people who have to travel a lot for work, I might even say that most of the poor shlubs in the precheck lines who have to travel monthly or more frequently are the real losers in the grand scheme. Traveling in flying sardine cans to make a living is no fun.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
>If you make it free, then everyone will choose the fastest one.. which means it will no longer be faster. So in order for time saving measures to work, you have to require selectivity. Or you can increase staffing. > The idea that this is meant to put tranches of society on display is ludicrous. It may or may not be meant to put it on display, but it shows it for what it is. People who can afford to pay to save time get prioritized through public infrastructure, and people that do not pay have to wait.
- ta1243 3y ago
  > Or you can increase staffing. Which would increase the cost. You could pay for that by charging everyone more, but many people on their annual trip don't think that the extra $10 on the ticket is worth the 20 minute saving. More importantly they'll choose the airport which is $10 cheaper as they have fewer agents so the peaks aren't smoothed.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Effectively no one is choosing airports, there is only 1 near 99% of people. Also, security screening is partly and can totally be paid by marginal income taxes, it does not need to come from each passenger.
- crazydoggers 3y ago
  Increasing staffing doesn’t help. It’s a basic queuing problem. You would have to increase the size of the airports along with the staff.. meaning perhaps hundreds of separate lanes, hundreds of separate X-ray machines and belts etc etc. At my local airport, all security lanes except for one for precheck, are well staffed and move as fast as the passengers allow. The space is already used maximally, however lines are exceedingly long. Switching the precheck lane to regular would have almost no effect on wait times. Queuing theory is rather complex. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queueing_theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queueing_theory

lotsofpulp 3y ago

>If you make it free, then everyone will choose the fastest one.. which means it will no longer be faster. So in order for time saving measures to work, you have to require selectivity. Or you can increase staffing. > The idea that this is meant to put tranches of society on display is ludicrous. It may or may not be meant to put it on display, but it shows it for what it is. People who can afford to pay to save time get prioritized through public infrastructure, and people that do not pay have to wait.

ta1243 3y ago
> Or you can increase staffing. Which would increase the cost. You could pay for that by charging everyone more, but many people on their annual trip don't think that the extra $10 on the ticket is worth the 20 minute saving. More importantly they'll choose the airport which is $10 cheaper as they have fewer agents so the peaks aren't smoothed.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Effectively no one is choosing airports, there is only 1 near 99% of people. Also, security screening is partly and can totally be paid by marginal income taxes, it does not need to come from each passenger.
crazydoggers 3y ago
Increasing staffing doesn’t help. It’s a basic queuing problem. You would have to increase the size of the airports along with the staff.. meaning perhaps hundreds of separate lanes, hundreds of separate X-ray machines and belts etc etc. At my local airport, all security lanes except for one for precheck, are well staffed and move as fast as the passengers allow. The space is already used maximally, however lines are exceedingly long. Switching the precheck lane to regular would have almost no effect on wait times. Queuing theory is rather complex. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queueing_theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queueing_theory