By Greg Halbleib
Waits of two hours are becoming common in major airport screening lines, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin suggests steps to reduce that time.
Durbin (D, Ill.) says air travelers are paying the price for Transportation Security Administration cuts two years ago with longer security lines due to fewer screeners. However, Durbin tells WJBC’s Scott Laughlin that’s not the only reason for the delays, as he wants the agency to better allocate its resources to major airports while more screeners are hired and trained.
“In terms of recruiting and training more screeners, it takes a while to go through that process and we have fallen behind,” Durbin said. “The number of passengers is up, the number of screeners is down, but it shouldn’t have busted up the system as badly as it has.”
Durbin says one way to reduce screening lines is to send more bomb-sniffing dogs to O’Hare, which he says has the same number of dogs as the smaller Indianapolis airport.
“Bomb-sniffing dogs can walk a line of passengers and if they don’t detect anything, that line of passengers can be pushed through TSA pre-check, which is faster access,” said Durbin. “We don’t have enough dogs at O’Hare.”
Durbin also suggests airlines suspend checked baggage fees for the summer to reduce the number of carry-on luggage that must be screened.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at greg@wjbc.com.
