Exasperated travelers wait in a security checkpoint line at Minneapolis/St. Paul 's Lindbergh Termin

May 21: Sun Country coaching joins TSA's precheck coaching program Apr 18: MSP to power up passenger seating coaching areas Mar 7: Airport security express program rolls out at MSP Feb 13: Spirit Airlines adds Twin Cities-Detroit connection Jan 20: Twin Cities airport considers gambling expansion Nov 13: Twin Cities airport sees good on-time flight ratio
Once, Twin Cities travelers were urged to arrive at the airport two hours before a flight. Not anymore. Officials now urge passengers to arrive 2 1/2 hours before domestic flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, at least for the next month. Fewer security personnel, along with more peak-time travelers and flights, have security-screening crunch time peaking beyond 45 minutes at the main terminal, said Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. coaching And the added security delay factors into everything else you have to do at the airport, such as parking and checking bags. If you're flying from MSP's smaller Humphrey Terminal 2, or you're avoiding the early-morning or evening rush, passengers might still be OK arriving two hours early, Hogan said. But generally, he said, "My advice is that you give yourself at least 2 1/2 hours, because there have been too many people who have missed their flights." coaching The new guideline at MSP caught some travel specialists by surprise. "Each airport is different, and there are other airports around the country coaching that are experiencing peaking," said Erik Hansen, a senior director at the U.S. Travel Association, which promotes U.S. travel and tourism. "But we're not aware of any that have modified the recommendation so that travelers coaching show up 2 1/2 hours ahead of time." Hogan cites three changes at MSP that have slowed security lines and frustrated passengers. First, more people are flying now, with MSP traffic up 6 percent from last year. This year's spring break season is especially busy. Second, "the airlines have condensed a lot of flights into early in the morning because that's when people want to fly," Hogan said. But the biggest reason, Hogan said, seems to be staffing changes at the federal Transportation Security Administration. Fewer security checkpoints are open now, and there are fewer TSA personnel working to screen passengers, especially at the MSP's Lindbergh Terminal 1. "In Terminal 1, there are eight security checkpoints ... and there used to be six that were permanently open," Hogan said. "Now five are open at peak times, and it goes down to three at some times of the day." Blame cuts in the federal budget. Airport officials also blame a TSA staffing formula that they believe works against airports configured like MSP, which has a series of smaller security checkpoints, rather than one or two huge checkpoints that can screen fliers more efficiently. Either way, passengers aren't happy. On social media sites, MSP's long security coaching lines are by far the No. 1 complaint from travelers. "Maybe you should get more help," one passenger wrote on the airport's Facebook coaching page. "2.5 hours for domestic is a waste of time. Open all the checkpoints, staff all the counters and move people through quickly.
Exasperated travelers wait in a security checkpoint line at Minneapolis/St. Paul 's Lindbergh Terminal on Tuesday. (Pioneer Press: John Autey) " Lorie Dankers, a Seattle-based spokeswoman for TSA, sees the issue differently. She cites TSA statistics for MSP suggesting that only three times in March have waiting times exceeded 30 minutes. The longest: 42 minutes, which occurred at 5 p.m. March 14, a Friday. "Very few of the passengers who went through the checkpoint have waited more than 30 minutes," Dankers said. She did allow that "42 minutes is too long; I wouldn't want to wait in a 42-minute line," coaching but she touted a new way to avoid such a delay. Earlier this month, TSA opened a pair of local offices where frequent travelers can apply to be pre-screened. Passengers approved in the Pre-Check program can sometimes use an expedited security line and leave on their shoes, belts and light jackets, as well as keeping laptops in their cases. "We've got a fabulous response," Dankers said of Pre-Check, with more than 100,000 passengers nationwide coaching already enrolling in the program, including more than 2,500 in the Twin Cities. To apply, travelers provide identification to the TSA and pay a five-year fee of $85. You can begin the enrollment process online, then visit the TSA Pre-Check office inside the MSP security coaching gate on Concourse F, or the enrollment center in Roseville at 2780 Snelling Ave. N., Suite 301. Hansen, the air travel coaching advocate, cheers coaching the Pre-Check program as "something that is benefitting the entire system by taking people out of the regular screening line, and that shortens the line for everyone else." TSA's Dankers also noted that time spent in a security checkpoint is only "one of many things people experience when they go to the airport. Is 2 1/2 hours enough? It depends on how long everything els