Signs don’t sort

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

Drewbot mentions that TSA recently introduced an initiative ripe for gaming:

The Transportation Security Administration is trying to speed up airport screening by asking passengers to choose a line based on their familiarity with checkpoint procedures. But human nature being what it is, this approach may hit its own snags: people typically opt for the shortest line, and all think they are experts.

The signs don’t sort properly, Drewbot notes, for the obvious reason that people don’t want to sort themselves into the slow line, but the signs do change behavior:

However, by reading the signs, they were aware of what steps they would have to take to pass as experts. Seriously: I have NEVER seen people with their ID and boarding pass in hand so consistently throughout the line. Experts don’t behave like this, only people worried of being discovered (being identified as being non-expert) behave in such a prepared fashion.

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