Just recently, Secretary Jeh Jonson, of the Department of Homeland Security, requested a reprogramming of $28 million to fund an immediate conversion of 2,784 Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) from part-time to full-time.
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People are also pointing fingers at the airlines, which last week pledged to spend $4 million each on additional support to help the TSA with nonsecurity functions, but are not willing to eliminate their checked baggage fees, which the TSA said results in clogged security lines as people carry on more bags than ever before. “In no place was it good”, Schumer said, speaking at a news conference at his Manhattan offices.
The airlines could do something today that might ease your wait in airport security checkpoint lines tomorrow: Stop charging fees for checked baggage. The senators, in an open letter, cited the TSA in saying that baggage fees may drive an additional 27 percent of baggage toward passenger checkpoints – and they mean those big ol’ lumbering bags on wheels that flight attendants and passengers have to wrestle into overhead bins just before takeoff. Congress has granted a request by the TSA to reallocate $34 million to hire more officers and pay overtime, yet wait times are growing, he said.
TSA administrator Peter Neffenger “has a very hard job, given the resources he has and the fact that they’ve had years in which they’d had no budget for hiring”, said Kevin Burke, CEO of Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA).
“We have a challenge this summer, which we are aggressively meeting head-on”, Neffenger told the House Homeland Security Committee.
An increase in travelers and a decrease in TSA staffing was blamed for the long lines at airport security.
One of the biggest changes has been the introduction of more canine teams at screening areas.
New York City is home to some of the busiest airports in the country. It was shaping up to be a travel nightmare for holiday air travelers. A majority of the year’s busiest travel days are between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
“If everybody wastes a bucket, it all adds up”, Walsh said. Travelers reported short wait times at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, which had made headlines in recent weeks for long wait times, as well as in Miami, St. Louis, New York – JFK, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Airport officials said the number of travelers at the airport from Friday to Tuesday will mark a 12 percent increase over a year ago.
At Orlando International Airport, extra airport staff was helping keep wait times to just over seven minutes on Monday, said airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell.
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“Bag fees are not the cause of the excessive wait times we are seeing now”, A4A spokeswoman Jean Medina said. The Port Authority says that the issue is similar at LaGuardia Airport and Newark. Airport spokeswoman Keonnis Taylor said the airport has had 29 consecutive months of rising passenger travel but had so far avoided multi-hour security waiting time.
