Airport screening delays have caused more than 70,000 American Airlines (AAL.O) customers and 40,000 checked bags to miss their flights this year, an executive for the airline told a U.S. congressional subcommittee on Thursday.
A shortage of staff and a surge in air travelers have created a nightmare scenario for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), with airport wait times in places like Chicago stretching beyond two hours.
While TSA is taking steps to shorten lines such as hiring more full-time officers, it lacks the staffing to handle peak travel times this summer, Administrator Peter Neffenger said on Wednesday.
American, the world’s largest airline, wants TSA to create a senior internal role focused on traveler concerns, said American Airlines Group Inc Senior Vice President for Customer Experience Kerry Philipovitch. The request comes days after Neffenger shook up TSA’s management, removing the head of security operations, Kelly Hoggan.
Philipovitch also recommended that TSA consider reinstating a risk-based screening program that it canceled last year because of high-profile lapses.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security-american-airline-idUSKCN0YH1KV
As a regular flyer, my observations are that the blame can be shared. Yes, the TSA is inefficient, but the average traveler makes the situation much worse than it needs to be. People still turn up at the airport 45 minutes prior to departure like in the old days, and wonder why they miss their flight. People don’t follow instructions and hold up the security lines while they have to go through the scanner multiple times, each time taking the stuff off them that they should have taken off the first time. They have stuff in their carry-n bags that shouldn’t be there, so the line gets held up even more while it has to be removed. Bottom line, the idiots are all around us.