On my way to the University of Missourri Thursday morning I noticed a change at the Oakland airport.
The security line was split into two, one line for expert travelers and one for casual travelers. I'd heard of this change but never seen it myself.
In theory this is a great idea! Expert travelers who know what they need to do in order to get through the line aren't totally frustrated as they watch security spend 10 minutes explaining/arguing why someone can't bring their bottle of hairspray through. True story.
Social norms help enforce the rules. No one wants to pretend to be an expert traveler and hold up the line.
After doing a double take at seeing the signs, I immediately made a beeline towards the expert travel lane. Mistake!
I'm not sure if it's because when you fly at 6 am in the morning there aren't that many casual travelers or if people don't want to admit that they are casual travelers but that line was much shorter!
I'm super curious to know if these lanes:
A - truly speed up the time it takes expert travelers to get through security
B - do not reduce the time it takes to get through but do reduce the frustration level.
C - do neither because people either get in the wrong lane or because so many people are expert travelers that the expert line gets very slow.
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