KANSAS CITY, Mo. – TSA officers say if passengers knew what screeners were looking for, they could shave minutes off their time in security.
That time savings could be important this summer, as aviation officials expect a four percent increase in air travel between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
There are a few simple things you can do to help speed things up.
TSA officials Tim Goodman and Jorge Hernandez says the do’s and don’ts of air travel sound simple, but it still happens despite many years of screenings.
“Someone who simply forgets their water bottle in their bag of their large bottle of shampoo, it ties us up for an extra 45 seconds, and when you multiply that by every 3rd or 4th passenger doing that, it delays everyone several minutes,” Goodman said.
Those minutes eventually add up and could mean the difference between making your flight or not.
Goodman says he’s already noticed an increase in air travel at KCI.
“Last year by this time of the year, we had one day where we exceeded 20,000 passengers that we screened at TSA here,” he said. “This year, there have already been three days, and we’re going to do it two more times before this holiday weekend is over.”
TSA Agent Hernandez says passengers looking for a security screening refresher course should start with the simple things.
First – have your I.D. and boarding pass ready.
“People don’t have their I. D’s out, they’re kind of looking around to see where they need to go, what departure gate, they’re going from,” Hernandez said.
It’s also important to empty your pockets and use only travel-sized toiletries. Hernandez also reminded travelers that animals aren’t apart of carry-on luggage.
“You don’t understand why a person would put an animal in a machine to run it through the x-ray,” he said. “We had a dog here just a few months ago.”
