Originally Posted by
dmodemd
Yesterday, Monday at 11am, Checkpoint 3 (center checkpoint), there were 0 people in line, in any line! TSA was begging for customers! They were hustling people through the dog walk as fast as they could.
Of course this was what it was like a couple years ago so they determined they had too many people working and cut back the security lanes and personnel, then a backlog developed. If they have sufficient throughput there would be no lines, and yes, sometimes they may stand around a little. If you cut down one lane, then a backlog is created and builds.
Of course in order to have optimal work throughput, you need to have a line, but for optimal customer satisfaction, you may not have full utilization of your resources.
There is enough data available about load factors, connecting vs O/D traffic, flight schedules, etc to optimize the TSA resources nearly down to the minute. It may not fit the traditional 8hr government worker shifts, but this "problem" is completely manageable and avoidable with some data analysis, creative planning, and critical thinking.
It won't always be completely right but most ppl are willing to tolerate a 10-20min wait. A 45-90 min wait, unacceptable.