Beep off!

Last week, I read that American Airlines was trialling a tool to stop folks who try to board before their class/row has been called. Software reading the boarding pass would ‘beep’ offending queue jumpers and alert staff. It’s an interesting premise (mildly unfunny comedy video explainer here). Initially, I was all for this (as my previous tirade about Range Rover parking indicates, I like equitable order). 

During the aforementioned behavioural analysis studies, we learned that in the post-9/11 era, some airports spent a fortune on facial mapping cameras to try and spot micro-expressions. Their thesis was they should look for angry people (terrorists are angry, right?). It’s a classic assumption error; some terrorists might also be fearful, sad, or even happy, and so on. Emotions can also be fleeting and jump around. We’re complex.

But that wasn’t the problem with this software (people’s mixed emotions). The problem was that between 50% and 80% of people in airports were angry most of the time. I’m one of them. When security measures are genuinely protecting us, that’s fantastic. But the interpretation by pent-up sadists harms the intention. For instance, one security officer at my beloved Heathrow asked me to decant toiletries from my small clear plastic bag into their larger, but otherwise identical, plastic bag.

So, again, this “control” (the beeps) might shame some and thereby ‘work.’ But consider the unintended consequences – if travellers are already grumpy, what happens if we make them grumpier just before firing them into the sky in a turbulent tin can with recycled farts?