TSA Queues May Soon Get Shorter Thanks to New Bill
Finally, some good news about the TSA lines: you can probably expect them to get shorter soon thanks to the new bill.
Earlier this year, we warned you about longer waiting times at airports this year, primarily because the TSA has become incredibly understaffed.
According to the Los Angeles Times :
TSA currently employs about 42,000 auditors, up from 47,000 in 2013. Meanwhile, the number of passengers flying through US airports jumped 15% over the same period, from 643 million to 740 million a year.
Following a push from the TSA union last week, the House of Representatives passed the Checkpoint Optimization and Efficiency Law. The bill will require TSA to reassess the staffing situation. According to his resume:
The Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) must begin and complete, within 30 days of the bill’s entry into force, an assessment of its deployment model to determine the required staffing levels, including the use of explosives detection teams and technology. , at all US airports where TSA operates at passenger checkpoints.
The staffing model should be based on the level of staffing required to maintain minimum passenger waiting times.
Of course, this bill has yet to be negotiated with the Senate, but it is not the only bill proposed to Congress to reduce security wait times. According to TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger , queues are already getting shorter as they address this issue. For more information, go to the full version of the message at the link below.
Checkpoint Optimization and Efficiency Law of 2016 | Congress.gov via Travel + Leisure