The Transport Security Administration is expecting lots of us, perhaps 4% more than last year, to show up to fly. If they’re right, records will be set, but lines may be very long because of other issues.
Although TSA plans to assign over 2,000 extra personnel to airports for the summer to handle the expected 263 million travelers, but the best-laid plans can go astray for other reasons. For instance, Southwest Airlines recently cancelled hundreds of flights due to a now-settled contract dispute and schedule changes caused by grounding of the MAX has added more unexpected reshufflings.
So far, no one knows when the MAX will be back, or how it will affect airport schedules and security lines, or when there may be a computer breakdown. What can you do? According to TSA, the best thing is to sign up for PreCheck or Global Access; TSA says the average standing-in-line time for PreCheck customers remains under five minutes.
