With the holiday season bringing new airport crowds, it’s also bringing some new ways to get to the front of the security line—but not through it.
At New York’s LaGuardia airport, there’s now a “B-Fast” lane set up at the Terminal B security area, where a $15 payment, in advance or on the spot, gets a traveler through a special gate and up to the TSA officer checking boarding passes and ID. B-Fast is operated by a company called Airboard Group.
The concept is similar to Clear, which is available in many airports, but which operates on a subscription basis; the B-Fast lane can be bought on a one-time basis. Similar schemes are popping up at other airports, including New York JFK. Airports like them because they share the money from them, without incurring new costs.
Once at the TSA checkpoint, the advantage disappears; only travelers who already have TSA PreCheck status can then go through the PreCheck lane where it is not necessary to unpack laptops and liquids or remove shoes and light jackets. Travelers who have PreCheck would likely not even save time paying for B-Fast.
