Cool! How did you do that?
To be fair, this actually is a concern at LAX. Hollywood stars use that airport a lot more than, say, Denver or Logan.
Although to also be fair, the only time I have recognized a celebrity in an airport is the time Wil Wheaton was on my flight out of SeaTac.
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And that’s what sets the tone for attack by the masses…
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Back quotes.
But to do the hashtag without shouting, just type before the number sign
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This just puts a visible price tag and monetizes something major airports have done since the dawn of passenger travel.
There isn’t a major airport on the planet that doesn’t have private super-VIP lounges and methods of getting them through and around the mobs and special access to security/customs inspection etc.
Now at least these people can be charged the cost of their elitism and maybe offset the extra expenses the airlines/airports have always just quietly passed on to you and me.
People with more money than genuine fame/security needs will sign up who otherwise would not get these perks and thus more money will come in. I see it as a win overall.
And as anyone good at real security wilt tell you, nothing is safer than concentrating high value targets in one spot with limited and known entries and exits. Oh yes.
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The article made it sound like the rich and famous can watch the plebs on the monitor dealing with long lines and paparazzi. (I don’t think the paparazzi will hang around in the regular terminal to pester the nobodies.)
There’s almost always invisible costs associated with any sort of infrastructure project; following your line of thought, a terminal bought and paid for by the super wealthy necessarily eliminates the availability of that land for everyone else.
Imagine if the ultra rich bought an entire lane of the interstate system just for them; sure in many places you could use the money to buy new lanes, maybe even replace old ones! But there are tons of places where new lanes cannot be built, regardless of access to capital.
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To all those on this thread that are saying “I don’t really care if it’s not costing me” or some version thereof; Do you think airports are built with private money? Do you think airports are run on just the fees tacked on to your ticket? Nope. And to those of you who are outraged, did you realize that most of those small airports that you see but never use are probably funded mostly by your tax dollars? Many are public airports, but since no large commercial flights go through them you would only land or take off if you have your own plane or a charter plane.
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Though I find these grotesque displays of wealth a bit repulsive, my first thought when I see the shit that the wealthy pay for is how tasteless, bland and pathetic it is. Even first class which has obvious benefits that anyone would want (legroom, better food, “free” drinks), is still something I could never imagine paying 300% more than coach for (on the company dime, however… sign me up). The ostentatiously wealthy always strike me as classless rubes.
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The alternative would be treating everyone decently.
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And we can’t have that; there’s no money to be made off of equality and basic respect.
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I always wondered what the phrase “target rich environment” referred to.
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Yeah how dare they enjoy their first amendment rights while monetizing the already monetized FOR SHAME YOU FOR SHAME
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Oh, neat! They’ve found a way to make LAX even worse! For profit!
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Too bad the term “hoi polloi” will never be used as it actually means.
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" The $22 million terminal was built with private money…" Okay, “built”. But as a California taxpayer, I’d like to see full disclosure on all costs involving this effectively private terminal that ultimately uses a publicly-funded airport.
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As far as TSA support at this luxury terminal, either that got pulled from the public terminals (creating a shortfall there and thereby potentially slowing things down in said terminals), or by newly creating the additional luxury terminal-only TSA support (which our fed tax dollars go to). I’d like to see the full story there.
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Because this new terminal is – obviously, by necessity – tied to the publicly funded airport, I’d like to know by whom, and by what means, the money was raised for its construction.
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Concern: Will any of these special-treatment one-percenters be the more likely ones to bump any non-one-percenters? Will this new luxury-handling further elevate the status and importance of the flying one-percenters in other ways unseen, while negatively affecting the rest of us in some way?
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#LateStageCapitalism
\#LateStageCapitalism
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#LateStageCapitalism
You don’t need the The regular space is enough.
" #LateStageCapitalism"
#LateStageCapitalism
\#LateStageCapitalism
SOMEBODY could make the # → <h1> substitution go away if he wanted to 
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The people who don’t need to be outraged to execute people worry me more than the ones who do. The outraged people will eventually stop being outraged, and therefore stop executing people.
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The airlines, the airport, and the TSA won’t hire any more people. All those hundreds of employees shunted over to the LUX terminal to fawn over rich people will be drawn away from the ones serving the proles in the regular terminal. It will end up being even more of horrible experience than it already is.
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