In several key East Coast hubs, staffing is an issue. Due to Transportation Security Administration staffing shortages at key airports, travelers will face longer lines, which will cause missed flights and missed connections throughout the system and may contribute to a more nightmarish travel and vacation season.
Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration said East Coast airports will be the hardest hit, with delays to rise by 45% when compared with those last summer. Staffing shortages and rising consumer demand are driving the problem. Last summer, New York-area airports reported more than 40,000 flight delays, which amounted to the highest yearly percentage of delayed flights in seven years, Business Insider stated in a March article.
More than 20% of flights are arriving late, on average, and currently, 1% to 2% of flights are being canceled. Passenger volumes at TSA security checkpoints are equal to or are exceeding pre-pandemic levels, but airports still don’t have the transportation security officers to move those passengers more efficiently through checkpoints.
Keep in mind, the TSA has a goal that everybody should make it through airport security in 30 minutes or less in standard lanes and 10 minutes or less in PreCheck lanes. Often, waits are much longer.
While the TSA has stepped up efforts to hire more security officers, filling staffing shortages takes time. The recruitment process involves background and credit checks, computer-based testing, training and a physical examination. With the job market still favoring candidates over employers, there simply are more vacancies than qualified people to fill them. The TSA has lost thousands of employees due to retirements, attrition and departures to higher-paying jobs elsewhere.
Pragmatically speaking, it’s in policymakers’ best interest to adopt forward-looking policies to avoid a nightmarish 2023 travel season. They need to pressure administrative decision-makers at TSA and other agencies to get more creative in attracting and retaining security officers at critical hub airports. They need to make it easier for the TSA to offer better pay, benefits and working conditions to attract good employees. Additionally, they need to expedite processes for hiring and onboarding new TSA employees and offer signing bonuses, especially in cities with the largest staff shortages. A commitment to increasing TSA employee salaries can ensure that staffing levels are adequate for future seasons of travel.
Second, policymakers should support innovative policies to move more passengers from standard security to PreCheck security lanes. Doing so would help keep lines short at checkpoints with persistent staffing shortages, since PreCheck lanes require fewer resources than standard lanes.
As America returns to the skies in record numbers this summer, the time is now to take smart actions to avert a nightmare for travelers.
Laura Albert is a professor and Harvey D. Spangler faculty scholar in industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. /Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service