You’ve probably heard this line before from airport officials: be sure to arrive two hours ahead of your flight. You might want to roll your eyes at that, especially if you’re on a domestic flight, but, it’s worth taking into consideration before you head to the airport.
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is supposed to be “America’s Friendliest Airport.” So when officials started receiving complaints from passengers about long wait times at TSA security check points, they knew it was time to look at all options.
Deborah Ostreicher, assistant aviation director, said the airport is considering its options.
"We have to consider every option available to make these tenable, not just tenable, but acceptable and friendly for our passengers, right now service their getting at the TSA checkpoints many times during the day is not friendly as far as the wait time," Ostreicher said.
Ostreicher said the reasons for the long waits could be a TSA staff shortage, TSA employees are not being properly allocated — or a combination of two. She said at times, passengers are waiting 45 minutes or longer, hence the two-hour warning.
Even passengers who joined TSA PreCheck, a service that allows travelers to skip the lines after paying a fee and undergoing a background check, are having to wait.
"We’ve received countless complaints from people on social media and through email, telling us they showed up and that line was closed or that line was abbreviated," Ostreicher said.
