Today marks the third time I've flown out of Washington National in the past week, and each time the security lines have been much longer than they were in the past.

Last Friday around 4 p.m.; Wednesday at 9 a.m.; and today (Friday) at 3:30 p.m. it took around 25 minutes from the time I first lined up in the security queue to clear the checkpoint on the center pier in the main terminal (AA/UA gates).

All four lanes were open on each occasion.

Does anyone know what's causing the longer lines? It never used to take more than 10 minutes for me to get through security at DCA. These are Dulles-length lines that add quite a bit of aggravation to the normally convenient process of flying from National.

My guess is "heightened security" due to the election & an (abnormal?)increase in secondary screening. I went through security last Thursday morning (around 7:15 AM - middle pier AA/UA/US gates), and my travel companion got SSSS'd. When we lined up, the wait was about 5-10 minutes to get to the x-ray machine. For some reason, there were not enough screeners in place, and the secondary screening line was full, so that they stopped the screening flow altogether - and 1 out of 4 people or so seemed to get secondary screening. (While waiting for my companion after the x-ray, I overheard the TSA people saying "I can't see the end of the line anymore - do you want to cancel breaks?" "No, not at all" .) By that time the line outside was at least three times as long, as another colleague told us later....

Maybe heightened security concerns -- or just more travelers in town -- due to tomorrow's elections? Just a thought.

I have been in these longer lines the last 2 rimes and last week was called out for an Express flight leaving in 50 minutes. I had been in line about 20 by then and it was another 5 in the shorter line. They are requesting shoe removal but do not use a bin. Lots of people getting the secondary also. This was at the US pier.