American Airlines said Thursday that it will spend $4 million to hire private contractors to help manage security lines at its nine hub airports, including Philadelphia International Airport, during the peak summer travel months.
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“We had a significant challenge in Chicago yesterday”.
A record 2.5 million people a day are expected to take to the skies this summer.
Forget outrageous fees and ever-shrinking seats, according to the COO of American Airlines the most frustrating part of flying these days is the TSA line.
Chicago’s airports have warned fliers to arrive three hours ahead of their departure time, and some passengers have stood in lines longer than their actual flight time.
In addition to more TSA screeners there is growing pressure on airlines to reduce the amount of carry-on luggage that passengers are bringing on aircraft.
In 2013, the TSA had over 47,000 full-time staff serving 643 million travellers, according to CNN.
Many airline customers choose to fly instead of drive because it’s faster, but that may no longer be true for those traveling a short distance.
McCaul explained, “They’re centralized and all the decisions are being made out of Washington with no flexibility on staffing decisions, that if they have local input from the airlines and airport authorities it could result in a lot of these problems”.
USA airlines raised $3.8 billion from bag fees previous year, according to the government.
According to Burke, 21 USA airports, including those in San Francisco and Kansas City, conduct their own passenger screening through a federal Screening Partnership Program.
The agency said Congress recently freed up $34 million in agency funds, and TSA would use $26 million of that to increase the hours worked by front-line officers, including increased overtime and increased part-time hours.
The TSA also ended a screening policy last fall that allowed agents to filter selected passengers into the TSA PreCheck line that helped control the lines. It requires an application and $85 fee for five years.
They say it’s just a coincidence that the TSA put on the demonstration after hundreds of people endured long lines and missed flights earlier this week at O’Hare and Midway.
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SouthWest is asking its employees to help move the lines along.
