Swift action needed on airport security lines, Tucson airport chief tells Congress

The Transportation Security Administration must add staff, open more expedited screening lanes and consider changing some work rules to avoid long security-checkpoint lines, the head of Tucson International Airport told members of Congress on Thursday.

Bonnie Allin, president of the Tucson Airport Authority, told the House Committee on Homeland Security how Transportation Security Administration staffing shortages created long lines at Tucson’s airport recently during the peak tourism season.

TSA has added staff in Tucson and things have improved, Allin said, but airport officials are worried that if the TSA’s staffing problems aren’t corrected, long lines may develop at the Tucson airport again this fall.

Allin said that Tucson’s security wait times historically have averaged 10 to 15 minutes, and at peak times rarely exceeded 20 to 30 minutes.

But in February and March, lines sometimes stretched from one of the airport’s two concourse checkpoints across the ticket lobby almost to the other end of the terminal. Because of TSA staffing issues, Pre-Check expedited security lanes were not open enough, forcing enrolled passengers to wait in regular lines, Allin said.

“Flights were delayed to wait for passengers or some missed their flights,” Allin said, adding that with full flights, rebooking was a particular problem for international passengers attending the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Allin said the Tucson airport is getting more trained TSA staff and lines and wait times are “now closer to normal.”

“Our concern is that when traffic picks up in the fall for the holidays and or peak season that the long lines will return,” Allin said in her statement to the committee.

To help head off further problems, Allin said she supports measures to expedite the hiring of TSA security officers, which can take up to a year to train and certify.

Allin said she supports pending legislation that would require each airport to set up a local committee of airport, airline and TSA representatives to better coordinate checkpoint staffing, and to allow staff not certified as screeners to perform non-screening work during peak periods.

Among other things, Allin also said the TSA should:

• Set up local TSA training centers until the hiring backlog is cleared.
• Give local TSA managers more power to make staffing decisions, including approving overtime.
• Increase Pre-Check use by setting up enrollment centers at airports, and consider reducing or suspending Pre-Check enrollment fees until TSA goals are reached.
• Deploy more screening dogs and expedite new screening technology.
• Develop “optimization teams” to review checkpoint layouts and include airports and airlines in a review and recommendation process.