Cruel Summer: Expect Long Security Lines at Chicago Airports: TSA

CHICAGO — The TSA's chief visited O'Hare International Airport Friday — where recent security checkpoint delays forced hundreds of travelers who missed flights to bed down in the airport on cots — and made no promises that matters will improve.

Peter Neffenger, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, joined U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin at an airport press conference and said "we can't have a situation like we had here in Chicago again."

A few days before American Airlines broke out the cots at O'Hare, a frustrated traveler recorded a video of his journey from the front of a TSA line at Midway to the back of the line. The video was seen more than 2 million times on YouTube, and waits were as long as three hours to get through security that day.

Thousands of people missed flights because of the long lines at both airports.

On Tuesday, Neffenger apologized for that.

“We had a significant challenge in Chicago yesterday. I don’t know what that was. We’re fixing that,” Neffenger said, adding that such a level of delay was not being experience at other airport checkpoints in the United States.

O'Hare, one of the nation's busiest airports, had the worst security delays.

“We’ve got a team out there ... trying to figure out what the root cause of that (was). We are not seeing that kind of problem throughout the system,” Neffenger said.

Durbin invited Neffenger to Chicago Friday for a round-table discussion with local officials, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, aldermen and area congressional reps.

A few aldermen recently suggested the city take over security duties at the airports through a private contractor. It's unlikely such an idea could be implemented this year, however.

TSA has to fix what's wrong now.

Curiously, one traveler noticed how speedily the lines moved on Friday while Neffenger was at the airport.

On Thursday, TSA conducted a special demonstration at Midway Airport of what security screeners encounter at the checkpoint. The goal: to highlight the situations that slow down the lines, such as passengers with disallowed liquids, guns, and knives.

“We’re not using this event to blame it on passengers," explained Mark Howell, a TSA spokesman, though the focus was entirely on the behavior of air travelers. “We wanted to illustrate that it is one piece of the puzzle. I’m not saying that infrastructure isn’t a problem. There are multiple things that factor into why wait times are growing.”

TSA maintains that lack of staffing is a primary reason for the suddenly longer lines.

On Friday, Neffenger said longer lines will be the norm for the foreseeable future.

"The summer will continue to be a challenge,” he said.

If one U.S. senator from Illinois had his way, Neffenger wouldn't be the one to solve the problem. Sen. Mark Kirk, who's running for re-election, suggested Neffenger lose his job.

"The passengers at O'Hare and Midway will decide if the wait times are reasonable, not bureaucrats. Over the next ten days, the flying public will hold TSA accountable for safe and quick security screening. If this problem isn’t solved before Memorial Day weekend travel peaks, TSA leadership should change. Continue to tweet your wait times to me @SenatorKirk and let me know if TSA is doing their job."

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