=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2002/06/07/f= inancial1732EDT0300.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, June 7, 2002 (AP) Members of airline clubs don't need tickets to go through security JONATHAN D. SALANT, Associated Press Writer (06-07) 14:32 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of airline affinity clubs can go through security checkpoints ev= en if they do not hold tickets for a flight, a rare exception to the post-Sept. 11 rule allowing only ticketed passengers past screening stations. Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Deirdre O'Sullivan sa= id the club members are screened like anyone else attempting to go through the checkpoints. They must show a government-issued photo identification card, such as a driver's license, and a valid club ID card, and may only enter the concourse where the club is located, O'Sullivan said. People accompanying small children or disabled passengers also can go through checkpoints without tickets, O'Sullivan said. "People who have legitimate business to go through security can do so," O'Sullivan said. "It's not that you're going to get around security. You must still be screened like everybody else." Membership in an airline club typically costs several hundred dollars a year, with fees lowered for frequent flyers. The clubs offer food and drink, conference rooms, phones, computer modems and fax machines. Travelers can buy tickets or obtain boarding passes in the clubs, avoiding long lines at check-in counters. "It provides a nice refuge from the hustle and bustle in the airport," American spokesman Todd Burke said. "In a number of places, people will go and use them as an opportunity to conduct meetings, even if they're not traveling." Besides American, members of at least three other airline clubs -- Continental, Delta and Northwest -- can use the facilities even if they're not flying. Airline officials said they asked the Transportation Security Administration to clarify whether club members would be allowed beyond airport checkpoints without a ticket for a flight. When the security agency said yes, the airlines began telling the club members. "Our members purchased a product and we are happy that they are able to use the membership that they are paying for," Northwest spokeswoman Mary Beth Schubert said. "We find that a number of business people will meet a colleague or conduct meetings at the airport." Continental spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said the clubs may even reduce the burden on security screeners. If three or four people fly in, rather than have to leave the airport and then go through security upon their return, the person they're meeting with now can go through security instead and meet them at the airline club, Johnson said. "It takes some of the volume of travelers off of the checkpoint operators," he said. Associated Press Writer Karren Mills in Minneapolis contributed to this article. On the Net: Transportation Security Administration: www.tsa.dot.gov American: www.aa.com Continental: www.continental.com Delta: www.delta.com Northwest: www.nwa.com =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 AP