Joe Taney, American’s vice president of DFW hub operations, said that the carrier plans to have additional staff in place within the next three weeks to help customers prepare to move through security and then exit the security area.
Advertisement
Passengers at O’Hare International Airport wait in line to be screened at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint on May 16, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois.
Anthony Seamann, a passenger who usually flies out of the Dallas airport, said he has been in a TSA screening line for an hour and 45 minutes.
“Our job is to keep the American people safe”, Mr. Johnson told reporters at the news conference Friday. “The government would continue to oversee aviation safety, but airports would be free to contract out screening to expert aviation security firms”.
A4A, which lobbies on behalf of USA airlines minus Delta Air Lines, forecasted that an average of 2.51 million passengers a day will travel on U.S. airlines starting with Memorial Day weekend (May 27-30) and continuing until September, up 4% from last summer.
And all of those passengers will have to go through security.
Engel also noted that the airlines’ checked-baggage fees have increased the number of carry-on bags going through security, which can slow down the screening process.
After a weekend when airport security lines stretched for hours in Chicago, the Department of Homeland Security is sending more security officers and canine teams to address shortages, Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin said.
A day after Mayor Rahm Emanuel seemed to shoot down the idea of privatizing airport security, he hedged on the issue, but stopped short of rejecting the idea outright.
“I arrived here about four hours early, expecting the worst, but honestly I was pleasantly surprised”, said Chicago resident Carmen Rodriguez.
American Airlines is taking matters into its own hands to help reduce long airport security lines. “What we do know is it’s not working here with TSA, so maybe it’s an opportunity to give private industry a chance to show whether or not they can do it right”, Burke said.
Indeed, on Sunday, security lines were so long that several people had to spend the night on cots at O’Hare Airport after hundreds of would-be travelers missed their flights.
Advertisement
Lines are nowhere near as long at smaller volume airports, such as those in Milwaukee and Rockford, officials there said. “Congress has starved TSA of the resources it needs to meet growing demands at our nation’s airports”. More morning shifts also will be added, and authorized overtime will be tripled.
