The TSA has been getting a ton of headlines leading up to this Memorial Day, and none of them have been particularly good. Lines are getting longer as agency-wide morale and numbers are low. Political circles are criticizing them, late night is having a field day, and alternatives are getting exhausted quick. Some airports have tried to step in and ease the tension of longer lines but the actual root of the problem, the Transportation Security Administration, hasn’t actually been offered many helping hands.
*Queue a helping hand*
Delta Airlines, who are no strangers to innovation, have put up almost a million dollars in research and development to unveil their new “innovation lanes”. The lanes still require passengers to walk through a metal detector. But instead of the single file line that usually moves at a glacial pace, passengers will approach five at a time and prepare for the x-ray at their own speed.
A conveyor system will then move their things into the machine so that passengers don’t have to wait around to push them through themselves. Bags that require an extra search will be automatically re-routed to another area. The innovation lanes also automatically return empty bins back to the start of the line, so you won’t be left standing around waiting for a TSA agent whose time could be spent more productively elsewhere.
So far Delta has only installed two of these machines in Atlanta, so your airport’s security line probably won’t be moving much faster before memorial day. But it is comforting to know that a better way is out there.
