This may be the year that smooths many of the ruffled feathers of air travelers if the promises of Transportation Security Administration chief David Pekoske can be kept.
We've been reading, over the past two years, alternate spates of stories about new technologies being tested to automate and speed airport security and breakdowns of the current system that leave travelers backed up in lines for hours.
But Pekoske says the future will be better as many of the experimental technologies tried out over the past few years come on line in daily use. And, in a speech to aviation fans, he promised to back that up with a "significant amount of technology investment" in the year ahead.
But TSA hasn't been given a real capital improvement budget, and many of the plans depend on support—and cash—from airlines. Fortunately, many of them have been willing to test and support improvements, including automated lanes that allow faster bag drop-off, faster scanning on conveyors and more. Pekoske says that, in particular, CT scanning that provides 3D images of baggage will be more widely installed over the next months.
Another initiative may eliminate the need for boarding passes at scanning; TSA is testing a scanner that will take a driver's license or other ID, now checked manually, scan it, match it with the itinerary and any warnings.
One can only hope.
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