Chicago airports get TSA relief from long lines

Chicago airports will get more hundreds more Transportation Security Administration officers and canine teams this summer, in an effort to shorten security checkpoint lines, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday.

TSA lines have grown to more than an hour at many airports nationwide, but Chicago's O'Hare and Midway have been among the hardest hit. About 450 people were stranded Sunday night at O’Hare because long lines prevented travelers from catching flights.

"The TSA wait times at Chicago's airports have been unacceptable," Emanuel said.

After speaking with TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Emanuel announced:

•100 TSA screeners will shift from part- to full-time, to help during peak hours. An extra 58 TSA officers will be assigned to the airports within three weeks and another 250 will arrive by mid-August.

•Five canine teams will shift to Chicago from elsewhere around the country by this weekend. Travelers in lines screened by bomb-sniffing dogs can be treated to expedited lines, where they can leave shoes on, and keep laptops and small containers of liquids in their carry-on bags.

•Authorized overtime for TSA officers will triple.

"The resources we have secured are an important step in providing relief for the traveling public, as well as ensuring the safety and security of our passengers," Emanuel said.

TSA issued a statement saying the first of the canine teams arrived Monday. TSA is also working with airports and airlines to match staffing with the flow of travelers through checkpoints.

The announcement came the same day that Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. called for Neffenger to resign if he can’t shorten hours-long airport checkpoint lines by Memorial Day.

“The flying public is experiencing a high security risk and economic burden from unnecessary wait times and missed flights due to insufficient staffing at TSA,” Kirk said.

Long TSA line strands 450 fliers overnight as woes expand

Problems with long lines aren't limited to Chicago. Members of the New Jersey delegation also wrote TSA Tuesday asking for an explanation about TSA's strategy at Newark airport, where waits are routinely longer than an hour. The letter was signed by Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, and Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Donald Norcross, Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Donald Payne and Albio Sires, and Republican Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen, Scott Garrett, Leonard Lance.

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday that TSA reviews safety and security standards daily to balance safety with convenience.

TSA is hiring more officers and paying more overtime in an effort to shorten lines, he said. TSA is also shifting non-security functions to airport or airline workers, such as helping travelers load their belongings into bins at security checkpoints, he said.

"There's a lot of work that's going into trying to be creative about how to not inconvenience travelers unduly, while also maintaining the strict safety and security standards that the American people would expect," Earnest said.

Johnson joined Neffenger on Friday in outlining a 10-point plan for reducing wait times, including hiring 768 more officers, paying more overtime and shifting canine teams to busier airports.

They are also urging travelers to join Precheck, an expedited screening process that costs $85 for five years but allows travelers to move more briskly through line by keeping their shoes on, and leaving laptops and small containers of liquids in carry-on bags.

TSA takes steps to combat long airport lines, but summer waits are forecast

But Johnson said he wouldn’t sacrifice safety for convenience, and he warned travelers might face longer lines this summer. The longer lines result from a confluence of more travelers this summer, fewer TSA offices and tighter security after watchdog reviews found that checkpoint officers were missing weapons during tests.

"We're not going to compromise aviation security under pressure from anybody characterizing this as a crisis," Johnson said. "We're going to bring on more resources to meet the increased demand, but we're going to keep at our principle job, which is the protection of the American people."

Airlines for America, an industry group representing most of the largest carriers, created a website, www.ihatethewait.com, and hashtag #ihatethewait to encourage travelers to post pictures of long checkpoint lines.