“That decision has come home to roost”, said Airlines for America president Nick Calio.
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Officials have been racing to tackle mounting airport wait times, a problem that is only expected to grow worse as summer travel increases.
Menendez said he is continuing to lobby airlines to temporarily suspend checked baggage fees for the summer, a move he said would reduce security lines because more people would check bags rather than bring carry-ons through security.
In some cities, airlines and airports are already loaning staff and hiring temporary contractors to do support tasks for TSA, allowing the agency to open more security lanes.
She said the airport has the equivalent of 835 TSA staffers among its part-time and full-time employees and plans to have 855 by the peak of summer. Now agency representatives say they are searching for solutions.
After months of mounting concerns, patience with lengthy security lines at airports around the country has reached a breaking point as waits stretch up to three hours and thousands of passengers miss their flights.
Secretary Johnson explained that this boost in funding was needed because, even though the president’s FY 2017 budget request calls for a 2% increase in TSA funding, the proposed bump doesn’t measure up to the 7% increase in traveler volume expected at USA airports.
Delta Air Lines’ employees have been helping staff security lines at a number of its hub airport for several weeks, said airline spokesman Michael Thomas.
Officials say a. 380 caliber Glock 42 pistol and 13 rounds of ammunition were in the bag of a man with a ticket to Denver. There are more TSA agents standing around doing nothing because they are not qualified to do the job. Not very many, but it is creating more anxiety for the travel experience.
“We worked with airlines and TSA, seeing how lines flow, where people take their shoes off, where they put water bottles”.
As a result of Schumer’s push, LaGuardia, JFK and Newark Airports have each been allocated an additional 72 officers, for a total of 216 officers in the New York- metro area. Besides, they are more effective than machines for detecting explosives, thanks to their unbelievable sense of smell, which is a million times more sensitive than ours.
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Still other Southwest strongholds have had more issues, including at Chicago Midway Airport where a recent viral video documented a line that weaved down the terminal hallways. The funds collected during fiscal year 2015 will be used this year to expand and support the TSA “Pre-Check” program. Over and over, we have seen that it was a big mistake for the Bush administration and Congress to nationalize airport screening back in 2001.
