TSA Lines at Ohare

[Mike K]

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.

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[Yaj Yak]

i feel like every airport is just hit or miss. depends on the day. when i was travelling for work, i'd get through in 20 minutes 90% of the time.

then, the other 10% would randomly take an hour and a half some day

(american terminal typically)

 

[RICH17]

3 HOURS???? What the fuck?

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

o'hare is a shit show along with the shit show interstate you need to get to it

 

[FESTER665]

i feel like every airport is just hit or miss. depends on the day. when i was travelling for work, i'd get through in 20 minutes 90% of the time.

then, the other 10% would randomly take an hour and a half some day

(american terminal typically)

Same here. Usually fly American Airlines, most of the time I get through pretty damn fast, then there's a time or two where it feels like you're in line for a Great America ride.

 

[Gone_2022]

There was something on the news about this yesterday. They also mentioned a few airports have gone to private security over the TSA option. I was at ohare last month and took over an hour through security. 1 body scanner open and 1 x Ray. It's gotten horrible

 

[Intel]

Walked into midway like we always do and the line was almost out to the parking garage.. No clue what is going on as we fly out quite often. Maybe they are pushing to have us pay for the prescreeining.

 

[DEEZUZ]

In January gf almost missed her flight due to TSA. the family behind her actually did miss the flight. TSA said for everyone in the line to get on Twitter and complain. Sure enough within 15 mins, 4 other lines opened up. But when I flew down to meet her there was no issue

 

[Gone_2022]

That's odd for midway. I fly southwest as much as possible for the fact that midway is better and southwest is better. unfortunately for work our preferred airline is American so it's only ohare for work travel.

 

[Gone_2022]

Found this news story by just googling TSA. I guess the problem is well known and getting worse

https://www.google.com/amp/www.cbsn...-time-port-authority-of-new-york-new-jersey/#

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

That's odd for midway. I fly southwest as much as possible for the fact that midway is better and southwest is better. unfortunately for work our preferred airline is American so it's only ohare for work travel.

^same here maybe 4-5 flights a year which is nothing like a business traveler, but no road traffic with a specific route, almost always lines with less than 10-15 min, short walks to gates

 

[Gone_2022]

^same here maybe 4-5 flights a year which is nothing like a business traveler, but no road traffic with a specific route, almost always lines with less than 10-15 min, short walks to gates

I just can't believe more airlines haven't become like southwest. The flights are more on time percent wise, I've never had an issue with them. The employees have always been very friendly and after 1 flight last year they sent me 4 free drink coupons.


I have 70k miles with American and I never get a single thing!!!!

 

[Angus]

Just went through ohare 2 weeks ago and I did notice the lines were much longer than I had been seeing before. Luckily, they put us in the family fast lane as I had my 2 year old and 9 month old with me...

We usually go southwest for everything. When we lived in SF, my daughter was on 13 flights before she turned 1. Almost all on Southwest and they were great. Oakland airport to Midway - awesome.

 

[Yaj Yak]

I just can't believe more airlines haven't become like southwest. The flights are more on time percent wise, I've never had an issue with them. The employees have always been very friendly and after 1 flight last year they sent me 4 free drink coupons.


I have 70k miles with American and I never get a single thing!!!!

wanna gift me your american miles then since you're never going to use them again.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

I also have 50k American miles I almost gave away but occasionally forced to fly out of o'hare based on the destination

 

[Yaj Yak]

midway's too far and too much of a bitch to get to for me, i will use southwest out of milwaukee though. i typically wind up on american or united because they go where i want but sw doesn't always.

 

[Gone_2022]

wanna gift me your american miles then since you're never going to use them again.

We are saving them for an international trip to London hopefully sometime next year. I almost have enough for both of us.

I was just saying that southwest was nice and sent out those drink coupons, I know its small but its more of a gesture than American has ever given to me and I have status with them lol.

The most I get with American now is that I can board first lol.

 

[radioguy6]

The TSA cut 10% of its screeners because they thought TSA precheck would catch on, but it didn't of course. Just in the past month I know of 3 people that missed their flight by a couple minutes because of 2+ hour security lines. Literally running to the gate without shoes on to a closed door and plane still being prepared.

 

[Yaj Yak]

does precheck still exist?

 

[radioguy6]

NEW YORK (AP) — An expedited screening program called PreCheck was supposed to be the answer to maddeningly long security lines at the airport. But four years after its launch, the Transportation Security Administration is far short of enrolling enough travelers to make a difference, spelling trouble for summer travel season.

Fliers can expect massive security lines across the country, with airlines already warning passengers to arrive at least two hours early or risk missing their flight.

The TSA cut its airport screener staff by 10% in the past three years, anticipating PreCheck would speed up the process. When not enough fliers enrolled, the agency tried to make up for that shortfall by randomly placing passengers into the express lanes. But it recently scaled back that effort for fear dangerous passengers were being let through. That's when the lines started growing, up to 90 minutes in some cases.

BOOKMARK: Go directly to the Today in the Sky homepage

The TSA is shifting some resources to tackle lines at the nation's biggest airports, but says there is no easy solution to the problem with a record number of fliers expected this summer.

"We had unacceptable line waits at the majority of our hubs," says Robert Isom, chief operating officer of American Airlines. "Based on what the TSA is telling us, there is no relief in sight."

'No relief in sight' for long TSA lines

 

[radioguy6]

does precheck still exist?

Yes it does. $85 for 5 years.

 

[Bru]

does precheck still exist?

They have a TSA PreCheck registration office at O'Hare. I need to apply considering I fly about once a month for work on American. Priority status helps at O'Hare, but not all airports have express lines for Priority flyers.

 

[jason05gt]

Midway is bad too. I flew in from Fort Myers a few weeks ago on a Sunday. I walked through the security area around 7:30pm and the lines were backed all the way up to the escalators.

Fort Myers was glorious. My family just walked up to the TSA agent and through security in 10 minutes.

 

[Gone_2022]

Yea the smaller Florida airports having it going on. Visited a college buddy last year in Jacksonville. It was 50 mins before my flight left and I was not at the airport yet and I was getting nervous. He kept saying you will be fine trust me. Dropped me off I walked through security in 5 mins and was at my gate 10 mins after I walked into the airport lol.

It was midday with no one in line for TSA and they still had 3 areas open lol.

 

[cacicgtp7]

I'll be honest I haven't noticed anything with TSA but I've had pre-check for the last 3 years straight (which is much better than even the priority lines). I will say when I look at the regular lines they are HORRENDOUS at DIA, and anytime I fly into O'hare or MSP it's a shit show. I fly about 80,000-95,000 miles a year with Delta so fairly seasoned and I can tell it's been getting worse. The pre-check lines haven't changed much though.

I say privatize it all out, get dogs, do some minor profiling (as awful as that sounds) and everyone will be just fine.