Earlier this week, the TSA admitted that waiting times have been climbing for airline passengers, after being called out by the Port Authority of New York. By way of explanation, the TSA scapegoated passengers, claiming it was our fault for showing up to checkpoints unprepared. And now, the Port Authority is threatening to hire a private firm to replace the seemingly incompetent agency.
This is getting out of control. Controversy surrounding the long-loathed organization feels like it’s finally reaching its breaking point. The TSA is facing down Congress, after three senior management whistleblowers from the agency came forward to report poor oversight and abusive employee practices. Among the House committee’s gripes over apparent corruption within the agency was also the unconscionably long lines they regularly subject passengers to.
New York airports hit a wait time of 55 minutes this spring, but elsewhere things are even more dire. Footage taken inside Chicago Midway Airport and uploaded to YouTube last night shows a line snaking through multiple corridors. The video, which is over two minutes long, only involves one man walking from one end of the line to the other.
The day before it was uploaded, Chicago local news reported wait times at Midway and O’Hare hit a maximum of 90 minutes. We’ve reached out to the uploader of this video for additional details and will update if we hear back.