[sufianabu]

I fly every week out of Chicago Midway. I am a Southwest Priority Preferred Rewards member. For the last few weeks I have faced huge delays using the Priority checkin queue. Every person on the queue is extremely frustrated. The queue has been single threaded and has only one person on the machine, one at the door and one doing something in the back. They move as if they didn't care. The regular checkin queues moved at least twice as faster as the priority queue. When I complained to the TSA supervisor he told me that it is all Southwest's fault as they have decided not to staff the priority queue.

Questions to Southwest:
- Is this true?
- If it is true then why would they do something like this?

This has absolutely been a terrible pain for all professional travelers.

Thanks,
Sufian

[cortney]

Why do you complain to TSA? TSA checks your luggage and you. its airport security. southwest doesn't control how many TSA agents will be at security check points. now if your complaint is about the line at check in...yes..its southwests problem and because of paying employees, they probably only want 1-2 agents there...less money to pay. If your complaining about a priority line for airport security, as i said southwest has nothing to do with that, TSA decides how many agents to have available

[sufianabu]

I am talking about the security checkin priority line at Chicago Midway. I asked the agents at the security check in. They asked me to talk to their TSA supervisor. I talked to him and he said it is Southwest's problem as they won't sponsor any more agents. I am really not sure whose problem it is. I will like somebody to figure out whose problem it is, take ownership and resolve it. In case whoever it is cannot afford to have more agents to really make it a priority line then they should just be open about it and shut down the priority line than make all of the priority line passengers suffer.

[Ombudsman]

The TSA supervisor blatantly lied to you. The TSA makes all staffing and scheduling decisions for each location. The airlines have no input. The TSA is notoriously bad at scheduling and staffing. If you travel as much as you say you no doubt have noticed this. Sometimes there are huge lines because only two of five screening lanes are open while at other times all lanes are open, fully staffed and barely any passengers at all. The TSA has been around for nearly ten years now, you'd think they could get it right.

I could go on and on about the TSA however this is an airline complaint forum and not the proper place to discuss the failures of the TSA.

Happy travels.

[SemperGumby]

TSA does control the assignment of agents and the format for screening, but Southwest controls everything leading up to the TSA checkpoint. So if the lines leading up to TSA are too long or the priority line is taking as long as the normal folk, then Southwest has simply over-sold your priority access and needs to restructure the lines or sell fewer.