Phoenix airport considering contractor to replace TSA
PHOENIX — Phoenix's busiest airport could cut ties with the TSA in the wake of a baggage-screening system breakdown that caused travelers a huge luggage delay, city officials said Friday.
Deborah Ostreicher, the city's assistant aviation director, said Thursday's chaos at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was the latest in a growing list of frustrations with the Transportation Security Administration.
She also cited long wait times and a lack of a TSA PreCheck process. That allows passengers who are approved to pass through screening more quickly, without having to take off shoes, belts or jackets or remove laptops and liquids from carry-on bags.
Calling the current level of service “unacceptable,” Ostreicher said officials are reviewing several options to improve things for travelers.
“One of those options is to utilize a contractor to provide security as some other airports have done,” Ostreicher said in a statement.
Phoenix is not alone. The world's busiest airport in Atlanta and the New York/New Jersey region's airports are also scrutinizing their relationship with TSA.
TSA spokesman Nico Melendez declined to comment in depth on the matter.
“Significant, unprecedented” technical issues with a computer server on Thursday led to more than 3,000 checked bags being left behind at the Phoenix airport, Melendez said.
By Friday, screening systems were working normally, and the bags that had been delayed were on their way to passengers, Melendez said. But tests were continuing because it was not clear what caused the malfunction.
