Here are four ways to breeze through - or bypass - those irksome security lines, from New York Magazine. Time your flight. You can avoid queuing up with hundreds of strangers this holiday travel season by strategically choosing your flight time. Avoid flying at night or in the early morning as this is when foot traffic peaks. Your best bet is to choose a flight between 10am and 2pm. Do your homework. To ensure that you've provided enough time to make it through security checkpoints, log on to www.Flightstats.com before you go to the airport. Along with flight-status updates and weather reports, the Web site will give you an estimated wait time for the security line. Head left. Most right-handers (which means most people) tend to automatically turn right when faced with a choice. Your chances of speeding through the checkpoint are statistically higher if you choose to head left instead. Get "cleared." If you're a frequent traveler forever getting waylaid by long security lines, or simply congenitally indisposed to taking your shoes off in public, it may be worth it to become a "registered" traveler. A company called Clear has an arrangement with a number of airports around the country that enables their prescreened travelers to jog through special security lanes without having to wait (or undress). The service costs around $100 for one year. Go to www.flyclear.com for details. Marshall Loeb, former editor of Fortune, Money, and the Columbia Journalism Review, writes for MarketWatch.