patrick.net

You mean I can't hire thuggees to strangle the people in line ahead of me and sell their organs any more?

There is a way to go through the immigration line very quickly; but you have to pay for the privilege and have an interview.
It's called "global entry".
It's not too expensive, so you don't have to be so rich.
You can get it extended to your car and they call it "sentri" lane entering the USA from Mexico.
But either way it sucks that you have to pay for it.

It's morally wrong to pay to move ahead of others in line. It's morally wrong that we allow this at all.

Perhaps the Declaration of Independence should be rewritten:

"All men are created equal, except those who can pay for preferential treatment by the government. They are greater than the others."

I'm of another opinion, but not entirely.
I feel superior as a US citizen as I am native born, as were my parents and grandparents.
I also am among the 43% who pay income taxes.
I should qualify for global entry for free, and go ahead of those who weren't born in the USA, and the welfare queens and assorted losers.

@Patrick, there is no doubt that you are correct. Our government is increasingly in business for themselves. Some years ago, I dumped everyone of my friends and acquaintances who were attached to the government. Even those who worked for government contractors.

Shame and disassociation is all we have to fight with. Which I believe only encourages their petulance.

clambo says

I feel superior as a US citizen as I am native born, as were my parents and grandparents.

I'm native born, as were my parents, but only 3 out of 4 of my grandparents were born here (grandma from Poland).

So do I get 3/4 of the privileges?

clambo says

There is a way to go through the immigration line very quickly; but you have to pay for the privilege and have an interview.
It's called "global entry".
It's not too expensive, so you don't have to be so rich.
You can get it extended to your car and they call it "sentri" lane entering the USA from Mexico.
But either way it sucks that you have to pay for it.

Credit card. There are quite a few that pay for it with the annual fee for global entry and Sentri. I got an Amex card for global entry, TSA pre and lounges. Any airport outside of the US, but including US territories, I don't pay for food, booze or drinks. $99/yr. A few domestic airports have lounges, but usually you'll need an international ticket or first class ticket.

The big catch 22 is if you're a privacy person. You do have to get finger printed with either global entry or TSA pre. I've enjoyed probably 50 Medallia's in Puerto Rico in the last 3 years. At an airport restaurant that's probably $400 alone. Wife will eat the food at the lounge. We'll let the kids have a coke and sandwich. Throw in other destinations like Jamaica, Dominican, Mexico and $99/yr is a steal.

I know it pisses a few people off here. I'm not bragging. It's a don't hate the player hate the game situation. If you learn the game you can travel for next to nothing if you're smart. $25-30k worth of travel I've learned to get down to $5-8k in a year. We just did Dominican in January with the kids. Resort was points, flight was points beside international fees, so we paid $400 and literally skipped customs in the Dominican and had drinks in the lounge. I'm not joking that no one looked at our passports.

I get what Patrick is saying, but those people are not necessarily rich that get to cut the line. They're savvy in my opinion. You also give up some information in the process. It's a give and take.

Flying private those passengers generally are going out of FBO and not normal TSA hence why private aviation is popular if you have the $$. Flown a few times in private planes. Park the car at the FBO (free) and literally walk through a lobby and hop on a plane.

Want my private pilots license, but I think high BP will stop that on the medical. Not weight, but it's just fucking hereditary. I've got multiple people I could share a plane with as a partner, kind of like a time share for planes. Sucks. We'll see. Still a dream though.

This is a good idea.

There must be no special government services or lines for the wealthy or the politically connected.