Demand for air travel is bouncing back – Delta Air Lines has just recorded its best-ever week for new ticket sales, while the likes of American and United Airlines don’t see the conflict in Europe or rising oil prices dampening people’s appetite for air travel.
That can inevitably mean three things – sky-high airfares, packed planes, and long waits at TSA airport security checkpoints.
Some people are already trying to get ahead of rising airfares by locking in trips now before prices start to really surge but you can’t exactly turn up the airport several months early in the hope of avoiding a long line for a pat-down body search.
Obviously, the best way to skip the line is to invest in TSA PreCheck for expedited screening but if this just isn’t an option for you then expect long wait times ranging from anything from 15 minutes to more than half an hour at some metropolitan airports.
Delays are, in part at least, down to a chronic need to hire more TSA security officers, as well as an alarming rise in the number of weapons being taken through airport checkpoints. The main reason, though, is because of the enduring need to remove laptop computers and liquids from hand luggage.
More than 15 years since the transatlantic liquid bomb plot, travelers in the United States are still made to comply with the 3-1-1 liquids rule. The rule is relatively straightforward – only 3.4-ounce or smaller sized containers are allowed in a single 1 quart-sized resealable bag per passenger.
The resealable bag may be kept inside hand luggage but if any larger liquids are left in baggage then a secondary search will be triggered. Unsurprisingly, lots of passengers still fail to follow the 3-1-1 rule or forget to remove electronics from their bags and this inevitably leads to long delays.
Thankfully, there are new X-Ray machines available that completely eliminate the need to limit the amount of liquids or remove laptops from hand luggage and they are already in use in several countries around the world.
Passengers can breeze through security checkpoints without having to worry about the need to remove anything from their luggage. In fact, some of these machines are already being used in the United States and lots more are on the way this summer.
On Friday, the Transportation Security Administration announced it had placed two orders worth a combined $781.2 million to buy Computed Tomography (CT) X-Ray systems from Analogic.
What is Computed Tomography I hear you ask – Unlike older X-Ray machines, CT scanners create a 3-D image, using algorithms to detect weapons, explosives and other prohibited items, including liquid explosives.
The CT scanners will come with fully automated screening lanes which are already helping to cut wait times in a growing number of airports across the United States.
For nearly $800 million, the TSA will get up to 469 base and 469 full-size systems which are set to start being delivered from this summer. There is, though, just one small catch. The Department for Homeland Security hasn’t yet authorized the machines for use on liquids above the 3-1-1 rule.
For this summer, at least, passengers will still have to limit the number of liquids in their hand luggage, although the TSA confirms that the long-term goal is to remove this rule at long last.
TSA has been letting you keep liquids in you bag for at least 3 years now, even with the normal x-ray machines. If you take your 311 bag out, they’ll actually yell at you to put it back in.
This is what happens when you can’t remember the last time you went through a normal passenger security checkpoint! My bad… thanks for the heads up. Corrected that one quickly. So, TSA wants to end the 3-1-1 altogether and these machines will (hopefully) allow them to do exactly that at some point in the future… cross fingers it comes sooner rather than later.
If you work or worked for TSA, there’s no way you could comment here that this new equipment allows a person to “breeze” through security. While its true that you don’t have to remove anything from your bags, and the fact that it employs better technology for more accurate screening, this equipment is actually way slower than the machines currently in use. Don’t believe it? Go to an airport that has both machines on the same checkpoint and notice the difference in the wait lines…when putting your luggage in and as you wait to get it on the other end. Most of us that operate these machines love the new technology but we’re not ready to agree that it allows for faster service… thats simply not true.
Those new scanners are slow! Like really really slow, max speed is 2 bins a minute and everything goes in a bin, except the stuff that gets knocked out and then has to be rerun.