What in the world happened? We've been flying in and out of Ohare for years with no issues. We typically fly Virgin which is terminal 3 and the TSA line, even on busy days, is generally 15 minutes or so. Generally though you're at the checkpoint within 5 minutes. It's really fast.
The last time we flew home from Ohare was January. No issues. We popped into the airport 4:00pm Monday to catch our 5:30 flight home and the line was literally out the door. It was so long that the people at the back of the one line were standing next to the people at the front of the line for the next security checkpoint.
I assumed something special was happening but the Virgin employee said this is the new normal and that they're seeing it daily. I had to charm her into giving us priority access without paying $20 a ticket but she said that now people are basically forced to pay or sit in line for hours. She told us that if we got into line the wait would top 3 hours.
Anyone here regularly fly out of Ohare? What happened? I can understand a 30 or so minute wait but at 3 hours something in the system is clearly broken. Hundreds of people missed their flights just while we were there.
The last time we flew home from Ohare was January. No issues. We popped into the airport 4:00pm Monday to catch our 5:30 flight home and the line was literally out the door. It was so long that the people at the back of the one line were standing next to the people at the front of the line for the next security checkpoint.
I assumed something special was happening but the Virgin employee said this is the new normal and that they're seeing it daily. I had to charm her into giving us priority access without paying $20 a ticket but she said that now people are basically forced to pay or sit in line for hours. She told us that if we got into line the wait would top 3 hours.
Anyone here regularly fly out of Ohare? What happened? I can understand a 30 or so minute wait but at 3 hours something in the system is clearly broken. Hundreds of people missed their flights just while we were there.