Airport Security After Downed Egyptian Airline

45:57

May 23, 2016

With guest host Jane Clayson.

The latest on the EgyptAir crash, and the latest on the TSA and security in the United States.

A long line of travelers wait for the TSA security check point at O'Hare International airport in Chicago. Some major airports are currently seeing wait times exceeding 90 minutes at peak hours. (Teresa Crawford/AP)

Across the country, frustrations are sky-high at the nation’s airports. Wait times to get through security are getting longer. Some passengers are being advised to get to the airport three hours early. And they may still not make their flights. But everyone wants to be safe, right? And the Egypt Air crash looms large. So what’s the solution? This hour On Point, keeping passengers happy and still safe.
-- Jane Clayson

Guests

Tom Costello, correspondent for NBC News. (@tomcostellonbc)

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), senior United States Senator from Connecticut. (@SenBlumenthal)

Richard Bloom, chief academic officer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, specializing in security.

From The Reading List

NBC News: Homeland Security to Airlines: Get Rid of Baggage Fees to Shorten Lines -- " 'We've asked the airlines to consider possibly eliminating the checked baggage fee to encourage people to check their luggage rather than putting it in the carry on,' Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Tuesday evening. It's a call echoed by U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal who also pitched the idea in a letter last week to a dozen major U.S. airlines."

CBS News: EgyptAir crash raises questions about U.S. airport security -- "With concerns that the EgyptAir crash could be an act of terrorism, the TSA is caught between its need to thoroughly screen passengers and baggage, and to get flyers through checkpoints in a timely manner — all while handling a surging number of travelers and a staffing shortage."

The Hill: TSA chief on EgyptAir crash: 'What we do is important' — "Speculation has swirled around the possibility that the Airbus A320 was downed in an act of terrorism, similar to the attack that brought down Metrojet Flight 9268 over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula last October. A branch of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took responsibility for that incident."

This program aired on May 23, 2016.