Security lines at O'Hare among nation's quickest

A new study by the federal Transportation Security Administrationof wait times at the nation's top airports found that O'Hare Airport,Washington Dulles International and Dallas-Fort Worth Internationalhad the shortest times.

Each averaged less than two minutes from the back of the line toclearing the security-screening area.

Los Angeles and Miami fared among the worst, with average times ofabout seven minutes each.

The numbers are a valuable gauge as Americans get increasinglycomfortable taking to the air again, and the economy firms up. About8.3million people plan to fly during the holidays, according to theAAA, up 2 percent from last year.

While the TSA's wait times are only averages -- actual waitsranged from under a minute to a full hour -- they're particularlyuseful for sizing up whether an airport is good at handling crunchtimes or not. In general, airports with longer average times are morelikely to suffer worse logjams when things get busy.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, for example, Miami had an averagewait of 15 minutes. And these days, as planes shut the door 10minutes before scheduled departure, any problems at take-off-your-shoes time can increase the chances of missing a flight.

The TSA already got through the Thanksgiving holidays, the busiesttravel weekend of the year, without too many fiascoes -- just somelong lines during peak times in some airports.

But, according to another study, the TSA hasn't been meeting itsoverall pledge to keep security lines to 10 minutes or less. Aseparate government survey recently found that delays averaged 14minutes. That survey, by the federal Transportation Department'sBureau of Transportation Statistics, was conducted by calling andasking 1,000 airline passengers how long they waited in securitycheckpoints. That survey may be skewed by factors such as peoples'perceptions of how long they waited.

By contrast, the TSA studied wait times by handing travelers ayellow card at the back of the line, then collecting them at thesecurity exit and clocking how long it took.

In a meeting of airline chief executives last week, severalexecutives pointed to a few airports such as Boston LoganInternational, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and TampaInternational Airport in Florida, that have had trouble speeding uptheir checkpoints.

"In general, we think the TSA has made a lot of progress, butthere are still pockets of problems," said Doug Wills, spokesman forthe Air Transport Association, a Washington group that represents themajor carriers.

Airports have been trying to slash wait times. O'Hare, forinstance, puts out small shoe-shaped metal detectors: Fliers can seeif there's any metal in their shoes without taking them off.

Wall Street Journal