Local Senator Urges TSA to Use Dogs to Speed Up Airport Security

The experimental screening areas – so-called Innovation Lines – are now being developed only at Atlanta’s airport, the agency said, with the aim of screening more passengers in less time.

Just after 9:30 p.m. Sunday, American Airlines officials were handing out blankets and providing cots for passengers who didn’t make it onto the last flights out to their destinations.

Both American Airlines and United Airlines are hiring extra people to handle non-security TSA functions and speed up lines, such as reminding passengers to remove their shoes.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said last week the delays have been caused in part by a 10 percent drop in the number of screeners nationwide. The TSA said it expected a 2% growth in passenger volume when it was preparing its 2014 budget, and now is expecting 7% growth.

Transportation Security Administration K9 handler Tommy Karathomas and his explosive detection dog Buddy perform a demonstration at LaGuardia Airport on January 20, 2016 in the Queens Borough of New York City.

Hartsfield-Jackson is considering – but has not committed to – another idea: a “one-bag only” express lane, with the idea that those travelers “have the potential to get through the process quicker”, airport general manager Miguel Southwell said. The TSA is also working with airlines to reduce the size of carry-on luggage and their number. Otherwise, airlines are recommending passengers arrive two or three hours before their flights are scheduled to depart. “Privatizing it would hold the people that are selected to be the screeners more accountable”.

Deborah Ostreicher, the city’s assistant aviation director, said Thursday’s chaos at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was the latest in a growing list of frustrations with the Transportation Security Administration.

A4A spokeswoman Jean Medina says the campaign is “raising awareness of the issue and serving as crowd-sourced (wait time) information”.

At the same time, TSA worker ranks have been thinned by 4,000 at a time of increased worldwide tensions over terrorist bombings. However, not enough travelers have enrolled. Donerson said that at Detroit Metro the PreCheck lines are much shorter than other lines in the morning.