Your Trip Through Airport Security Is About To Suck Even More

Back in the day, you could breeze into the airport 15 minutes before your flight, stroll up to your gate, and get on the plane without breaking a sweat. But these days, you have to give yourself a good hour or more, as airport security checkpoints can take awhile (if you don’t have TSA PreCheck).

As it is, you’ve got to take off your shoes, remove your belt, take your laptop out of your bag, and make sure you don’t have any metal on you before you go through the x-ray machine. If you’ve got a jacket, you’ve got take that off as well. Each person needs 2-3 bins, and it’s a HUGE time suck.

Unfortunately, it’s about to get even worse, with the TSA currently testing a new security procedure requiring travelers to unpack all food and electronic devices larger than a smartphone in a separate bin for screening, “in an effort to de-clutter baggage,” according to a statement by the TSA.

So why are they doing this? They claim that this will ultimately increase efficiency by reducing the number of bags that need to be inspected manually after going through the x-ray machine.

According to reports, these new screening procedures won’t go into effect until after the summer travel rush, giving TSA employees time for new training. And who knows, maybe it will actually help speed up security lines as the TSA hopes it will. But honestly, I’m not holding my breath..

Thankfully, I’ve got PreCheck, and we’re not affected by these new security rules. Best $85 I ever spent!