BWI Nightmare Scenario: TSA Delays as Summer Traffic Surges

HANOVER, MD — More cases of long security lines at several airports across the country mean passengers using Baltimore/Washington International Airport need to build in more time to clear security as the summer travel season approaches.

BWI has set records for passenger traffic in recent months. In February, 1.5 million passengers flew through the airport, an increase of 13.6 percent over 2015 and a record for the month of February. It was the eighth-straight monthly record for BWI Marshall air travel.

BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean told the Baltimore Business Journal the longest waits typically happen between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Typically, airport authorities urge fliers to get to the airport two hours before their flight leaves, but the TSA checkpoint lines have been longer than what the airport regularly sees in the mornings. And Dean said longer waits may come in the summer months if something doesn't change.

Over the weekend, that window was extended to three hours or more after a nightmare of delays at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Backlogs getting through the TSA checkpoints at O'Hare were so bad Sunday night that many who missed their flights were forced to bunk at the airport on cots. Passengers waited more than three hours to get through security.

Officials say the Transportation Security Administration is dealing with a critical shortage of federal screeners. TSA worker ranks have been thinned by 4,000 at a time of increased international tensions over terrorist bombings.

As a result, travelers from Chicago — where 6,500 passengers were stranded on a single day in March — to Atlanta, Seattle and New York are frustrated by hours-long waits at security checkpoints in some cases. Passengers and airlines are united in their calls for reform as a growing number of people miss their flights because of the TSA delays.

Last week at Midway Airport, a traveler's incredulous video of a massive security line went viral. It's now been viewed more than 2 million times.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has a new plan to cut TSA wait times at airport across the country.

The TSA will hire 576 additional security officers this year, maximize the use of overtime to meet demand at screening checkpoints and deploy additional canine teams at airports, Johnson said. It’s also working with airlines to develop specific plans to ease wait times at the nation’s busiest airports, and reduce the number and size of carry-on luggage.

Johnson also urged travelers to sign up for TSA Precheck, which provides expedited screening for passengers who are considered to be low-risk.

And now, the agencies have developed a 10-point plan to "keep passengers moving," Johnson said.

The 10-point plan includes:

• Maximizing the use of overtime for TSA officers to meet checkpoint demands
• Expediting the hiring of more TSA officers, adding another 768 this year
• Deploying additional K-9 teams
• Allowing Federal Security Directors at airports to use "increased flexibility" in providing additional trained TSA staff for screening
• Developing specific plans to alleviate wait times at the nation's busiest airports
• Reducing the size and number of carry-on luggage
• Asking airlines for help in non-security tasks
• Increasing research and development in technology to increase passenger flow
• Encouraging air travelers to sign up for TSA Pre✓
• Working with Congress to get additional resources for the TSA

— Includes reporting from Patch Editors Beth Dalby and Dan Taylor

»Patch file photo of BWI Airport