WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Travelers hitting the airports this holiday season can expect longer trips than a year ago, U.S. travel industry experts say, as a significantly larger number of people flying this winter will be met with at least 7,000 fewer baggage screeners than processed airline passengers last year.
"Every holiday season travelers should expect a longer experience," Brian Turmail, of the Transportation Security Administration, told United Press International, but evidence indicates this year's trips might be longer than most.
After a long slump following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, air travel is picking up. Turmail said 5 percent to 10 percent more passengers will fly out of Washington-area airports this year than last, taxing every area of airport infrastructure.
Overall, U.S. air travel is projected to be up around 1 percent this year, but popular destinations like Phoenix and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and major hubs like Washington might see much larger increases, Turmail said.
That extra travel comes as funding cuts have led to severe cuts among baggage-screening staff. Last December the TSA employed 55,600 screeners. TSA Deputy Administrator Stephen McHale told the House Governmental Reform Committee in a hearing Thursday that his agency currently employs between 47,000 and 48,000 screeners. TSA will only receive funding for 45,000 screeners in fiscal year 2004.
Security checkpoints at Washington's Reagan National Airport, designed to process 800 passengers per hour, will be faced with as many as 1,600 per hour during peak periods surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, according to TSA projections. Some days are expected to see 12,000 more passengers than usual pass through Reagan.
Across the country, TSA will pursue a variety of strategies to help it do more with fewer screeners, according to McHale's testimony. "We still have some airports that probably have an excess of staff," he said. "We will reassign that staff. Obviously there will be overtime, obviously there will be some leave restriction during (the holidays)."
McHale added that a mobile screening force will be available to fill gaps at especially stressed airports.
More passengers taxing fewer screeners can lead to a vicious cycle. McHale said that if passengers are not patient and properly informed, "the lines get longer, the passengers get upset, they put more pressure on the screeners," which can in turn make screeners slower still and further aggravate waiting passengers.
Hoping to avoid that scenario, the TSA is pursuing an active education campaign. Turmail stressed the agency's "three-for-three tips" intended to help passengers avoid tripping metal detectors and spending an extra three minutes waiting through a secondary check -- passengers should take metal items out of their pockets, take laptops out of their cases, and take off their jackets to set them on the screener belt. Turmail pointed out that if each passenger managed to save three minutes, lines would be considerably shorter.
In addition to preparing for metal detectors, Turmail recommended that passengers check the contents of their carry-on luggage for prohibited items before arriving at the airport. He also recommended waiting to wrap gifts that will come on the plane. Turmail warned that wrapped packages might have to be unwrapped for checking and might not be re-wrapped to passengers' standards. "Our screeners are highly trained in security, but they are not trained in gift wrapping," he said.
As always, exact travel waits are difficult to predict. Turmail said, "There are a lot of variables that come into Thanksgiving travel. There will be a lot more people at airports that don't fly very often."
One of the most important variables is weather. If storms lead flights to be canceled, screened passengers will have to leave secure areas, rebook their tickets and go through the screening process again. Turmail said that would make keeping security check lines short "much more challenging."
While they are being pushed not to slow down air traffic, baggage screeners are also facing increasing pressure to catch every potential threat. The high-profile case of college student Nat Heatwole, who allegedly smuggled box-cutter blades, knives and liquid bleach onto a number of airplanes, has drawn attention to gaps that remain in the security system.
Responding to persistent questioning at Thursday's hearing, McHale said TSA is performing an investigation into Heatwole's alleged security breaches and has set out a nine-point plan to improve its screeners' performance. "TSA is well aware that our systems have vulnerabilities," he said.
Holiday travelers will have to endure the longer waits that persistent security concerns require, but McHale and others stressed that flying is safer than it was a couple of years ago.
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., underscored this point in comments during Thursday's hearing. "We're a lot safer and we continue to be safer each and every day, but we don't feel safer because we had a false sense of security before Sept. 11," he said.
