So, how did you pass the time recently at the airport while waiting in line for your pre-flight security check?
Solitaire on your smartphone? A book? The people-watching is always good because, well, there are plenty of people to watch.
If you’ve scheduled a flight for later this spring or summer, plan on finding a way to occupy yourself, because the long waits may not ease significantly anytime soon.
You’re not alone, of course. Boy, are you not alone. Many airports have reported wait times as long as three hours, longer than many flights. Last week, about 450 passengers were stranded overnight and slept on cots at Chicago’s O’Hare International when they missed their evening flights. More than 3,000 pieces of baggage missed flights in Phoenix recently.
At Sea-Tac International Airport, 90 temporary private contractors have been hired to help screen fliers and ease what had been waits in line of 90 minutes or more. And just in time. With the Memorial Day weekend coming, a half-million passengers are expected to pass through Sea-Tac, with Friday likely the busiest day.
This spring of discontent cost the security chief for the Transportation Security Administration his job earlier this week. A Congressional hearing this month noted Kelly Hoggan’s more than $90,000 in bonuses despite heavy turnover of security staff and security vulnerabilities. The agency’s inspector general sent teams with fake weapons through checkpoints to test their effectiveness. In 70 separate tests, 95 percent of the fake bombs and weapons were missed by screeners.
Hoggan’s no scapegoat, but there is plenty of blame to go around.
TSA management, at the direction of Congress, has been paring down its employment numbers. TSA now employs abut 42,500 screeners, a 12 percent reduction from 2014. And the agency has had difficulty hanging on to its hires. Low pay and stressful working conditions mean the agency loses about 25 percent of its workforce to attrition. And those reductions have come as flights have increased. As many as 740 million passengers will be screened this year, up from 643 million three years ago.
TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger announced fixes this week. He talked lawmakers into canceling another 1,600 layoffs that were scheduled as budget cuts and secured $8 million to hire more than 700 new screeners and another $26 million for more hours for current employees. Neffenger also announced more dogs in security lines to sniff for explosives and wants to increase the visibility of its Pre-Check program, which allows expedited screening for those who go through a background check and fingerprinting — and pay a $85 application fee. But those checkpoints aren’t always staffed either.
All of that should help, but there are other suggestions:
The airlines could do their part, as suggested by a couple of U.S. senators, and suspend fees for checked bags at least for the summer. This should encourage people to check their bags, rather than take more carry-on luggage through X-ray scanners. (The bonus: Fellow travelers wouldn’t have to compete for limited overhead luggage space and make attendants struggle to cram it all in.)
And Congress needs to restore the $12.6 billion it has diverted from the security fees that are added to each airline ticket we buy. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, we’ve all paid a security fee, now about $11 for each round-trip flight. But rather than use that money to pay for the legitimate costs of security, Congress, with White House approval, will skim nearly $13 billion over the next decade to reduce the deficit.
Deficit reduction is great but not at the expense of efficient and effective airport security, which is what airline passengers thought they were paying for.
And, hey, that gives you something to talk about with the fellow traveler ahead of you in line.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
