Earlier in the month I wrote about how American Airlines was spending $4 million to speed up the lines at the airport.
With the airport security lines the responsibility of the TSA, you might wonder why an airline would spend their money to help out.
Well, I think I came across 70,000 reasons why…
According to Yahoo News, “So Far This Year, 70,000 People Missed Their American Airlines Flights Standing in TSA Lines“.
Imagine- 70,000 people so far have missed their flights due to TSA lines and we’re not even half way through the year. To highlight how bad the lines have been, AA says that close to 6,800 people missed their flight during the week of March 14-20 due to security delays.
American Airlines also told a Congressional subcommittee that along with the 70,000 passengers, 40,000 checked bags also missed the flights. This led to “countless headaches for both travelers and airline staff trying to re-book passengers on new flights“.
Maybe I’m wrong but those countless headaches have got to also be costing American Airlines big bucks. To rebook passengers, staff is needed to do the actual rebooking and recheck luggage. On top of that, it also makes the airline look bad even if it really was the TSA’s fault.
The $4 million that AA is spending to help speed up security lines could probably help them save much more if fewer people miss their flights.
Find out more from Yahoo News here.
Miles- Interesting point but Im pretty sure that air travel is at all-time highs. My guess is that the $ they are investing is helping the security areas nearest to their gates. Who knows for sure and if it even really helps.
Rich- It is pretty sad. I’m sure the government will eventually see a fix to the issue, to tax us more for our flights. Hopefully not!
Why does TSA’s administration seem surprised that as our population expands, so do the number of people that fly and the need for ever increasing resources? Seems here again, it takes a private business to accomplish (or at least try to) what our current government can not do, as those in charge don’t have a clue “how to”. This whole TSA caused nightmare is a national disgrace!
An added factor may be that talk of lengthy waits in TSA lines may lead more people to avoid air travel…just the sort of attitude that airlines don’t want.
I wonder if American is able to channel their contribution to speed up the TSA lines nearest their gates.