TSA GIFT TO TRAVELERS IS RIGHT ON TIME FOR HOLIDAYS
Many could breeze through checkpoints during busiest week
Thanksgiving travelers largely breezed through airport checkpoints during the busiest week of the year, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.
The department’s Transportation Security Administration screened 16.5 million travelers from Nov. 21 through Nov. 28, according to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. That figure represented a 4.9% increase from a year earlier. The busiest day was Sunday, Nov. 27.
Despite the holiday rush, 95% of travelers waited less than 15 minutes in checkpoint lines, and 99% waited less than 30 minutes, Johnson said.
To get through lines faster, TSA encourages travelers to join Precheck, a program for voluntarily providing background information in exchange for expedited screening lines. The program costs $85 for five years. The advantage is leaving laptops and small containers of liquids in carry-on bags, and leaving on shoes and light coats.
In Precheck lanes, 97% of travelers waited less than five minutes, Johnson said.
“Despite the large volume of holiday travelers, our (transpor- tation security officers) kept things on track,” Johnson said.
Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, a trade group representing most of the largest carriers, said they are encouraged by the progress under TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger’s leadership during the summer and through the holiday period.
“Airlines have continued to step up by contributing tens of millions of dollars and staffing resources to keep our passengers moving efficiently and we are seeing results at major airports across the country,” Medina said. “Carriers completed more than 99% of their flights, with 85% arriving on time” over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The relatively shorter lines came just months after hourslong waits at major airports that resulted from a combination of tighter screening, smaller staff and more travelers.
American Airlines said 70,000 passengers missed flights during the first five months of year because of the lengthy queues. Airport officials in New York and Atlanta discussed hiring private screeners.
To shorten the lines, Congress allowed TSA to shift $62 million from other accounts to hire 1,368 officers and shift 1,865 from part time to full time. Part of the fall federal spending debate will decide whether TSA will keep the additional staffers.
Chicago O’Hare International Airport had waits averaging 104 minutes during peak travel times in early May, according to an airport report based on TSA figures. But after local officials met with TSA to demand changes, the average waits during peak times dropped to six minutes by late August.
Neffenger, who spoke to a group at Seton Hall University in New Jersey on Tuesday, acknowledged public criticism since he joined TSA in July 2015.
“For many, we were the agency that got in your way, and we intruded on your travel,” he said.
But TSA is striving to improve its efficiency and customer service, Neffenger said. He dismissed goals for five years away as unrealistic and he aims to put changes in effect more quickly, such as opening a training academy in Georgia for all new TSA workers. “We have changed dramatically over the last year and a half,” he said.
Technology will also help spur lines. For example, London and Amsterdam airports have had automated checkpoint lanes for years to move carry-on bags through screening equipment like trays through a cafeteria line. With five drop-off slots at each station, faster travelers can move around slower ones, moving everyone through checkpoints 30% faster.
“At the biggest airports, we needed a faster way to move people through checkpoints, given the year-over-year dramatic increases in the number of travelers moving through airports,” Neffenger said.
“For many, we were the agency that got in your way, and we intruded on your travel.” TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger