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Are TSA’s new “automated” security checkpoints really better?

TSA screening security checkpoint

Screening lane like this one have rolled out in airports across the country. Are they better? (Image: United)

We’ve been getting a lot of pitches from airlines and the TSA bragging about the new “automated” security checkpoints popping up at airports across the country since last year. You know, the ones with the conveyor belts that deliver bins underneath a steel counter. Some refer to them as “smart lanes.”

In theory they should work well, but in practice, it sounds like it might be another story. We’ve heard from many readers (and friends) who question whether or not the automated lanes are an actual improvement.

Here’s one email from TravelSkills reader FF:

Chris, do you have any opinion on the new Delta initiated TSA “automated” checkpoints in ATL? In my experience (I go thru 2x / week), they are an unmitigated disaster. Even the TSA agents are disgusted with it.

I was told by an agent a few weeks ago, it was a UK-devised system (RED FLAG!!) that was being pushed by Delta. He also said that it required two extra agents per line to facilitate getting the passengers through due to the confusion/awkwardness created by the system. I heard another agent on Monday night saying that it takes so much longer than the old way.

In the past, I would ask an agent when the TSA was going to phase out the boondoggle, but I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the system is now being installed at MSP. I told an agent there to get ready, because it was a real cluster**** and she said she’d heard the same from several passengers. I wonder if Delta even beta tested it before rolling out?

Here’s a video United created to help roll out the new lanes at Newark Liberty airport.

The idea for the new lanes is that the TSA can process multiple people at one time. It’s designed so that experienced, streamlined passengers can easily get around slower passengers by just walking up to another slot. But it does not always work that way. From what I’ve seen, people feel like they are “breaking” in line if they choose a slot closer to the screening machine. So they wait. And then the TSA agent overseeing the operation shouts at them to go ahead and take the empty lane.

The lanes most recently went into operation at Minneapolis St Paul airport, and the TSA sent out a press release extolling the following virtues:

The automated screening lanes offer several new features designed to improve the screening process for travelers going through the security checkpoint including:

  • Stainless steel countertops designed specifically to enable several passengers to place their items in bins simultaneously;
     
  • Automated conveyor belts that move bins into the X-ray machine tunnel and return the bins to the front of the security checkpoint;
     
  • Automatic diversion of any carry-on bag that may contain a prohibited item; this diversion to a separate location allows other bins containing other travelers’ belongings to continue through the screening process uninterrupted;
     
  • Bins that are 25 percent larger than a typical bin and are able to hold a roll-aboard bag;
     
  • Unique Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that are attached to each bin, allowing for additional accountability of a traveler’s carry-on property as they move throughout the security screening process;
     
  • Cameras that capture photographic images of the contents of each bin and are linked side-by-side to the X-ray image of a carry-on bag’s contents.

It sounds good in theory, but in practice, we are not so sure.

So the question is…is this just a learning curve thing, or a failure in design? What do you think? Please leave your comments below.

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Comments

  1. If there was an intelligence test before someone could buy a plane ticket flights would be 1/4 to 1/2 full at most and security delays wouldn’t matter.

  3. Sure, because if there’s one thing I can count on is an absence of inexperienced travelers in the security line. We still have people surprised that water bottles aren’t allowed, not looking forward to the decades it will take to get people to understand these new bins.

  5. I went through ATL this week and found that with four bins: two carry-ons; bin with jacket, shoes and liquids; and my laptop, my bins ended up all spaced apart with several other bins between them. Everyone ended up in the same boat so there were several of us standing around, waiting to get our stuff when, with a conventional system, one person gets their stuff and moves on. To further complicated the matter, a couple of us who are frequent travelers, moved to open bin space but we’re screamed at to wait because all the slow people kept getting usurped by faster people in front of them and couldn’t get their bins onto the conveyor. The TSA agent had to direct each person to shove their bin, in order, back of the line to the front. I’ve used the system at Newark and didn’t find it to be as chaotic so, maybe it is growing pains but as another comment or said, it’s a cluster f***. Add to that, I think TSA in ATL is one of, if not the rudest TSA group in the country and they generally seem disorganized (even more so than the NYC area airports.) It’s really a recipe for a miserable experience.

  10. I think a feeder funnel, like in a bank, would help make it clear that any open station is ok. Or maybe like a gas station — any open pump is OK!

  12. No, the first reader makes a quick decision to divert, and then the bin and the X-ray image go to a secondary station, where an agent and as many supervisors as needed can puzzle over it out of the mainstream flow.

  13. How hard can pushing out the bin be? It’s only full of stuff you put in it. Add a button and the doofusses will think it’s an agent call button, push it, and then scream when their half-packed bin takes off. Simplify. Fewer moving parts to break.

  14. Good idea, not sure where the holdup is. Maybe if the passengers can be first funnelled to the middle of the bin loading areas we could avoid the “line jumping” worries

    (ANYTHING to get around Mommy and the tantrum throwing tot who won’t let go of her teddy bear.)

  15. The cameras take a photo of the *bin* so when they need to do a secondary check of a bag, they know that they have the bag that matches the X-Ray.

  16. I have used the new system and I do think it helps. I was able to skip past the “slow” people – who take 10 minutes to remove everything in slow motion – and put my stuff in the bin and go. I like it and I think it’s an improvement.

  17. When TSA has only 2 or 3 lanes opened out of 22 (ATL Monday morning, ~10am), no system will help. Took almost an hour to go thru security.

  18. I don’t know why they don’t play a video (or other recording) on how to use the new security checkpoints while people wait in line. It is designed to be quicker, but only works better if people know how to use it as designed (as with many things). The biggest issue I have encountered is pushing the bin out into the line. That should be automated so that you push a button when your bin is ready and it is automatically maneuvered into traffic. Smart bins!

  19. I’ve used these lanes all the time in Europe and they are incredibly more efficient than the old US model. It may take a bit of an adjustment, but it’s also fairly intuitive so people will get used to it. This should be rolled out universally. Also, by posting an email from a reader that says UK systems are a Red Flag, is a bit concerning in itself. That is clearly ignorant talk, and not sure why it should be shared.

  20. Would someone please explain what this means:
    “Cameras that capture photographic images of the contents of each bin
    and are linked side-by-side to the X-ray image of a carry-on bag’s contents”

    Is every carryon being opened so that a photographic image of the contents can be taken???

    If not, what is the purpose of photographing the bin and then comparing it to the xray image of the carry-on bag’s contents?

  22. The worst part of me is trying to get your bin onto the conveyor. If you aren’t in the last position, good luck. I have resorted to just pushing a corner of the bin in before the next one moves. I have seen a TSA agen monitoring the belt rarely. You are on your own. Maybe if the bin lanes were not just tacked on the end, like on an angle, folks could see the empty spaces available.

  24. Like anything else, change is going to confuse people. The system is DESIGNED to work faster and most of the time it does (Pre-Check always for me). What your complainer doesn’t admit is that ANY security line is going to be slower when even one inexperienced traveler goes through it. Hell, you still see people in Pre-Check taking their shoes and belts off. I like the new system and, once you know how it works, it makes security a breeze.

  25. I used the system two weeks ago on a trip from Atlanta to Las Vegas. We were in the pre check line at around 2:30 pm on a Tuesday. The system assumes at least in the pre check that TSA is dealing with frequent fliers. This day there were people that didn’t know what to do and know one to lead them. It also assumes when people get there items out they will place the bins in the retrieval feeder. If the bins aren’t loaded in the feeder they stack up and the operator diverts the bags to the sniffer station which back up that station. I stood at the station for 10 min. waiting on my friends to come thru. I personally empty the conveyor belt and loaded the trays in the feeder to send more trays back to the front of the line. As you see the system is not design to be truly automatic.

  26. I have been thru these new lines twice, although I had read about them a number of times. First time, I went to most forward available bin and got dirty looks and a snide remark from one of my fellow travelers. I asked TSA fellow to explain the drill to the upset passenger who got quite irate with others “cutting in line”. While all this was going on, I was thru security and out. A week later, was thru a similar line with no issues and think the concept is fine. Most of the issues discussed in this thread deal with lack af familiarity. Be patient!!

  27. I go through this system twice a week in ATL. It is a disaster. It is not intuitive or user friendly and the TSA agents assigned to it are so aggravated with it they are not helpful at all.

  28. Terrible, terrible, terrible!! One issue is people who get TSA precheck who have no clue what to do. Basically the conveyor at ATL can only hand 5 pieces of luggage as that is the number of slots to stand. Then when the

  29. The problem I observed at ATL PreCheck was waiting to be told when to push the bin into the line. Needing two bins made it worse. Were it not for an agent marshaling the process, which was bad, I never would have had a slot to push my try into, which would be worse. This is something that should be handled by the equipment automatically. So, I would say “Good idea, poor execution”. Time for another iteration.

  30. I have no hesitation in passing by people to an open spot in the TSA lines in ATL. I do find, on occasion, a bottle neck going through the screening portal. And also the bins coming out from being “screened”.

  31. I’ve been through this type of system a number of times at LHR in the past few years. I think they work pretty well. One fact about them, though, is that they limit the size of a carry-on bag to one that confirms to the posted size limits. I suspect that travelers who routinely bring on over-sized carry-ons will be unhappy.

  32. Pretty standard across all of Europe. Works well there. May just take some time over here.

    My MO is generally to throw my 1 carry-on in front of the people stalled out at the front of the line, wasting empty conveyor belt space. But I am more aggressive than most.

    In Europe, the bins are also generally bar-coded and when secondary inspection is required, the secondary screener can quickly pull up the image that flagged the bag in question.

  33. They’re definitely not automated and only add extra time to the painful process. I’ve spent as long as 20 mins in the conveyor belt area at ATL PreCheck. It’s not at all clear to new folks they they just need to pick any available spot (as opposed to the one closest to them). Requiring a bin for each item is asinine. When I went through this same checkpoint last night, it was mercifully fast as there were hardly any passengers. However, when I got to the other side, I had to quickly stack a long train of empty bins, as my bags wouldn’t have been able to make it through. Again, not automated. Not smart. More smoke and mirrors and $$.

  34. I’ve used them many times as a frequent traveler based in Atlanta. The pro is that you definitely get to a bin quicker than waiting in line, but then that is negated by the agent who dictates when you can push your bin out to the conveyor lane. Additionally, if you need two bins, you often have to wait for the agent to let you push your second bag since you can’t load two bins at once.

  36. It’s really not that hard to understand. Maybe there’s needs to be a minimum IQ before you’re allowed to purchase a plane ticket.

  37. i commute from Calif. to MSP and have used the lanes a few times, they are installed at the south security check point. i have TSA pre-check. it certainly seems faster in my observation. agree might be a learning curve yes, but seems faster in part if you ready to go you can step right up and not wait for the laggards who seemingly wait to the luggage belt to remove every watch, cell phone, big metal jewelry etc.

  38. There is a bottleneck at both ends. The bins don’t feed in a logical order and the empty bins clogged up at the end as the TSA stands there and waits for the passengers to remove the empty bins.

  39. I just used them at Gatwick in the UK. I myself was a bit confused when the one agent on duty told me that my roller had to be in a bin. The larger bins are wonderful if one is carrying multiple items that must be unpacked for scanning! Handy, as this list seems to be expanding.
    It seemed to work well for the majority going through when I did, so learning curve?

  40. Should just be a minor learning curve for some, others will always be hopeless. The ones who know will walk by others.

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