Over the past weekend, and apparently without consulting airline crew unions, TSA sharply tightened the rules that allow pilots and cabin crew expedited service at airport screening.
The new rules require crew members to be in uniform to use the service, and subjects them to the ‘Unpredictable Screening Procedures’ known to TSA as USP and to the rest of us as random extra screening.
KCP (Known Crewmember Program) is a bit like Pre-Check on steroids. It allows crewmembers who have been registered into the program to go through special lanes, or to go to the head of existing lanes.
Although rules have been changed before, it has usually been after consultation with the Airline Pilots Association and the Association of Flight Attendants, two of the biggest unions. This time, TSA consulted only Airlines for America, an association of airlines, including most of the largest. The unions have urged their members to comply, but have also called on TSA both for explanation of the change, and future consultation.
Some crew members have speculated to reporters that the changes might have resulted from a number of incidents in which program members appeared to be intoxicated.
