Shorter Airport Security Lines Ahead

You’ll still have to take off your shoes, but improvements are on the way to get you to your plane faster.

By Martha Lynn Craver, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

August 14, 2009

New technologies plus economic stimulus funds spell shorter airport lines.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $1 billion to the Transportation Security Administration for the purchase and installation of new explosive detection systems for checked bags and advanced screening equipment at security checkpoints. The upgrades will start paying off by the end of next year.

On tap: X-ray machines that allow multiple views of carry-on contents, reducing the need for hands-on examinations of suspicious items as passengers pass through security. Such inspections are the leading cause of security line backups and delays.

Meanwhile, improvements in software will allow detection of liquid and gel explosives, so the ban on liquids could be lifted. The ban’s elimination in the U.S. would be carried out simultaneously with Canada and the European Union, easing travel among them.

More airports will get machines that let security workers more easily rule out bombs in checked bags, helping to keep baggage moving and cutting odds of evacuations.

But passengers will still have to shed their shoes. New technology that attempted to scan shoes while still on people’s feet flopped. And whole body scanners—meant for detecting nonmetallic weapons and explosives—are still in limited use. Only 19 U.S. airports deploy them. The idea of letting screeners see your body outline through your skivvies is controversial.

Down the road, technology that produces a less revealing stick figure image will ease privacy concerns. Eventually, passengers may even be allowed to keep their coats on while passing through security.

Lee Matsos contributed to this story.

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