TSA takes steps to combat long airport lines, but summer waits are forecast

TSA takes steps to combat long airport lines, but summer waits are forecast

WASHINGTON –  Anticipating long lines at airport checkpoints this summer, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Friday that Transportation Security Administration officials would take aggressive steps to stretch its workforce by hiring more security screeners and allowing more officers to work overtime.

Still, Johnson warned, travelers will see long wait times as the agency at time of high security coincides with the busy summer travel season. Travelers and airline officials have complains of waits as long as two hours in some airports.

Ted S. Warren, AP

Travelers wait in line March 17, 2016, for security screening at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle.

Johnson said he hoped the plan he outlined Friday at a press conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport would avert the possibility of even longer waits.

"Obviously waiting three hours for a two-hour flight is not acceptable and it's not a good thing and it taxes everyone's patience," he said. But he added, "We're not going to compromise aviation security because of this.

Johnson's 10-point plan includes hiring more TSA officers, paying more overtime, deploying more canine teams and using airline workers to handle non-security functions at the checkpoints, such as moving bins. Congress agreed Wednesday to allow TSA to shift $34 million between its accounts to expedite the hiring of 768 new officers by June 15 and pay overtime for its 42,500 officers.

"We want to keep people moving, but we want to keep passengers safe," he said. "There will be wait times as they move through aviation security checkpoints."

Bart Jansen, USA TODAY

Jeh Johnson, left, secretary of Homeland Security, and Peter Neffenger, more

Airport officials in the New York area and Atlanta have grown so frustrated with long lines that they have threatened to hire private security contractors to replace TSA screeners. Airlines for America, an industry group representing most of the largest carriers, created a website, www.ihatethewait.com, and hashtag #ihatethewait to encourage travelers to post pictures of long checkpoint lines.

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for American Airlines, said in an interview that travelers waited up to an hour and 45 minutes at checkpoints at Chicago O’Hare airport on Thursday. During one spring-break week in mid-March, 6,800 American customers missed flights due to long waits at security lines, he said.