Color-Coded Airport Security Lines Tested

Salt Lake City and Denver are test sites for new system to speed up lines.

Skiers and snowboarders are familiar with symbols signifying relative slope difficulty: green circle for easiest (aka, beginner) runs, blue square for more difficult (aka, intermediate) and black diamond for most difficult (aka, expert). The Transportation Security Agency is now testing a system that it is calling the Black Diamond.

The idea is for travelers to select the level of security line that they believe is suitable for their level of travel experience. The TSA hopes that green will be chosen by families with children, stollers and infant seats; people with special needs, and infrequent flyers who are confused by the system and need some assistance. The agency also hopes that the blue line will be used by semi-experienced travelers, perhaps with multiple carry-on items, and that black will be used by experienced travelers who know the drill and arrive at the checkpoint with laptops out of cases; toiletries in appropriately small quantities in the regulation one-quart zip bag keys, coins and cell phones out of pockets, and shoes, jackets and belts off.

TSA is launching the Black Diamond test program at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) and Denver International Airport (DEN), where presumably a fair number of passengers are familiar with the color coding. which makes the skiing references appropriate — if not readily understandable to nonskiers. Of course, as every skier knows, many people over-estimate their competence on the mountain, and there are always terrified beginners picking their way down intermediate slopes and over-confident intermediates stalled on black-diamond terrain. There is no reason to believe that people will be similarly optimistic at an airport security checkpoint.