I flew BOS-DTW on Monday and arrived in the terminal around 5:50am. The Sky Priority security line was past the kiosks. It took about 30 minutes to clear through the elite lane.
The problem is twofold for the elite lines (and I emailed TSA about them and, of course, got a useless response).
- Nearly exclusive use of single full-body scanner for two lanes
- Non-elites cutting over from their lines to the elite line after TSA ID check
It takes anywhere from 30-60 seconds to complete one scan vs. 2-3 seconds through the magnetometer. They occasionally send people through the magnetometer when the scanner line gets backed up. They should be using both all the time until they make the complete switch to body scanners. I really think someone in TSA believes that a long line means success.
The line-jumping should be controlled by TSA after ID check. Despite there being
Thousands
Standing
Around, they don't seem to be paying attention.
It's been like night and day since the body scanners went into service and has progressively gotten worse over time. I think during peak times you have to allow 30 minutes to clear security.
I went to find a supervisor after clearing through to comment, but there was no one in the usual area to talk to. I'll likely try again next week.