MINNEAPOLIS - Get used to it.
That's the bottom line for passengers who have been complaining about longer wait times to go through security screening at Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) International Airport after the recent implementation of a new, condensed system. Travelers were active on social media Friday morning, posting pictures of security lines that stretched the length of terminal one, and messages about the potential of missing flights.
Early Friday afternoon TSA Public Affairs Manager Lori Dankers responded to KARE 11's request for comment on complaints about increased security screening wait times. She says no passenger processing in Terminal 1 waited longer than 47 minutes on Friday morning to get through security, and that those passing through the TSA PreCheck lanes waited 10 minutes or less.
The busiest times Friday afternoon at MSP are projected to be 1 to 2 p.m. and to 8 p.m. Regardless of when passengers are traveling Dankers advises arriving two hours prior to flight departure to ensure they have adequate time to time to park, acquire boarding passes, check baggage and go through security checkpoints.
Overall, she attributes the longer waits to two things: a significant increase in passenger volume, and enhanced security measures at checkpoints.
Dankers says that passenger counts in 2016 are running seven percent higher than numbers in 2015, and points to statistics that indicate since Oct. 1, 2015, TSA screeners have processed 18.7 million more travelers than they did in the same time period the previous year.
It is also the start of Spring Break, which is traditionally one of the busiest travel times of the year. Dankers says that Thursday, Friday and Sunday are the busiest travel days at airports across the nation, which is also true at MSP, but she says that Mondays are also extremely busy at MSP due to heavy business travel here.
Changes in security also play a role, she says, as screeners are increasing focus on alarm resolutions, passenger pat downs and x-ray bag screening. TSA's staffing budget for 2016 is frozen from 2015, meaning that staffing will not increase despite the jump in passenger volume.