Why TSA Wait Times Are Longer This Summer
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Here's your money briefing for Thursday, August 17th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. Been to the airport this summer? TSA is rolling out new scanners to beef up security and move passengers through the line more quickly. The only problem is travelers are saying the lines are just as frustratingly long.
The actual scanning process can be slower. That's because the bag moves into the tunnel where it is scanned. And when that happens, it stops in order for a 3D scan to be created. There have also been some technical issues with the scanners themselves, which have caused them to malfunction and go down.
We'll talk to WSJ Travel reporter Allison Pauley after the break.
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Getting through the airport to make your flight is stressful enough.
Why are TSA wait times reportedly longer this summer?
Adding to that frustration this summer, passengers reporting longer waits in the TSA lines. So what's going on? Wall Street Journal travel reporter Allison Pauley looked into this, and she joins me. So Allison, TSA is installing new scanners at TSA security points. How do they work?
These are called computed tomography scanners or CT scanners. And they're pretty similar to the ones that you might have seen in the medical context. So what they do is create a 3D image of your carry-on bag. Now, a lot of us are used to the 2D scanners that have a conveyor belt where you load your carry-on bag onto the belt. It goes through in a continuous motion. These create a 3D image of the bag.
So a 3D scan, what does the passenger do in this situation?
Rather than just drop your bag on the belt and walk down the line, what you do is put your bag and all of the loose items in one of those big, flat, gray bins. You load everything in there, and then you push it onto the belt, where it will go through the machine and then continue on through the process.
So it's not very different from what we do now at the airport.
But it is a new process. So with every new process, especially going through security, there is a learning curve.
All right. So how are they designed to make for a better experience for travelers?
So even if you're not in TSA PreCheck, you don't have to take your laptop or approved liquids out of your bag. I spoke to an airport CEO in Asheville, and he said the scanning process itself takes longer, but you're not doing all of that recombobulating after the checkpoint.
But passengers are reporting longer waits in the lines. What's causing that?
The actual scanning process can be slower. That's because the bag moves into the tunnel where it is scanned. And when that happens, it stops in order for a 3D scan to be created. So it's not the continuous motion that we saw with the prior 2D scanners. The bag is stopping in place. There have also been some technical issues with the scanners themselves, which have caused them to malfunction and go down.
And we're seeing passenger traffic rise. Is that adding to this?
Absolutely. So you introduce a new process, and then you have more passengers trying to get through the lines, which just compounds everything.
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