TSA has record summer
The Transportation Security Administration had the busiest summer on record, screening more than 239 million passengers between Memorial Day and Labor Day, an increase of 9 million passengers over the same period last year.
The higher workload for TSA officers has prompted the union representing the screeners to demand that the federal government hire more front-line workers.
“The people in the chain of command forget why we were put here,” said Hydrick Thomas, president of the council that represents TSA screeners at the American Federation of Government Employees.
“We were put here to protect.”
The airports were so busy this summer that the TSA said four summer days broke the TSA’s top 10 list for busiest days in agency history: June 29, June 30, May 26 and July 21.
The record may not be surprising considering that airline industry officials have been touting an increase in air travel over the last few years, thanks to cheaper fares and strong consumer confidence.
A TSA spokeswoman said the agency can hire only as many screeners as are allowed under the annual budget approved by Congress. The most recent federal budget approved the full-time equivalent of 43,000 officers, which represents an increase of less than 1% over the previous year’s budget.
Thomas said the turnover rate among TSA officers is so high that the agency can’t hire new screeners fast enough to replace those who leave to take jobs with higher pay and better benefits.
“If they don’t manage this agency and hire enough employees, they are going to have problems,” he said.
Boarding policies and infection rates
The common practice of boarding airline passengers by classes is the worst way to avoid spreading infectious diseases, according to a study from Arizona State University.
The study by a team that included experts in human evolution, biomedical informatics and applied math found that infection rates increased when passengers were crowded together — as they often are while trying to board a plane.
In the case of an Ebola outbreak, the study said the current boarding practice used by most airlines would lead to a 67% chance of 20 air-travel-related cases a month.
Furthermore, the study found that bigger planes with more passengers can also lead to higher infection rates.
In the last decade, the airline industry has tried to increase efficiency and profits by packing more passengers in larger planes.
“Using smaller airplanes during an outbreak, instead of completely banning flights to a specific destination, can drastically reduce the probability of introduction of infection,” said Anuj Mubayi, an assistant professor at ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change who worked on the study.
The study recommends a few fixes to reduce the infection rate, such as dividing the plane into two lengthwise sections and loading passengers randomly to cut down on bottlenecks.