TSA Tests Tougher Carry-On Screening In Detroit, 9 Other Airports

DETROIT, MI — If you’re flying out of town this Memorial Day Weekend from Detroit Metro Airport, be prepared to fish electronic devices larger than cellphones — for example, tablets and e-readers — from your carry-on baggage and place each in its own bin so Transportation Security Administration screeners can take a closer look for explosives and other banned items.

The airport is one of 10 across the country that have been testing the enhanced screening procedures for more than a year. The problem, TSA says, is that travelers are putting so much in their carry-on bags to avoid checking luggage that it makes screeners’ jobs more difficult.

“It becomes a real challenge, because the more things you put in the bag, the harder it is for them to discern what is a threat and what's not a threat,” John Halinksi, a former deputy administrator of the TSA, told NBC News. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

In the test lanes, TSA officers may also ask travelers to place other carry-on items, including food and books, in a separate bin because they, too, can obscure X-rays, Darby LaJoye, the TSA's assistant administrator for security operations, told NBC.

The TSA implemented the pilot project in response to a high failure rate in testing in 2015, CNN reported. Banned items made it through security in 67 out of 70 tests, a U.S. official told the network, noting that X-rays can’t always see through electronics. “If you have four laptops on top of each other, you’re only going to see one of them,” the official said.

Laptops haven’t been banned on domestic flights, and the official who spoke with CNN said the pilot project isn’t a step in that direction. However, TSA’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, wants to expand the computer ban to U.S.-bound flights originating in Europe and flights leaving the U.S. for overseas destinations. Business travelers, airlines and foreign governments have grumbled, saying it will create delays and chaos.

The pilot project is merely “an effort to de-clutter baggage” and increase the accuracy of X-rays, TSA spokesman Michael England told the Associated Press. Placing each electronic device may slow down screening, but the TSA said it is looking for ways to make screening quicker and more targeted, though the agency didn’t elaborate.

Most travelers already have to remove their laptop computers and electronic devices from bags as they move through security lines. The exception is those passengers who have enrolled in the pre-check program. Nothing changes for them under the pilot project.

The enhanced screening is also in effect at the Boise Airport in Idaho, the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport in Colorado, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, Logan Airport in Boston, Los Angeles International Airport, Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport in Texas, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

If the pilot program is successful, it could be expanded nationwide.

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images News/Getty Images