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Paul Nelson reportingThe Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is considering a new way to increase security in the nation's airports. It wants to make people feel more pleasant while going through the checkpoints.
For air travelers, the security checkpoint could be downright aggravating. You could see people rolling their eyes, looking at their watches to see if they're late, and complaining that other passengers are slowing them down. Wouldn't it be nice if the TSA could do something to just calm everyone in that line down? Well, they're working on that.
Dwayne Baird with TSA Public Affairs said, "The idea of that is that it's going to be kind of a calmer, gentler checkpoint."It's called Checkpoint Evolution, and it's being tested in Baltimore now. Baird says the ultimate goal is to just chill passengers out.
"If we can calm the passengers down, it's much easier for our transportation security officers that are there to detect people who may be wanting to do some harm to the traveling public," he said.
Checkpoint Evolution involves things like soft music, calming lighting displays and showing images from the X-ray scanners so passengers know what screeners are looking at.
"Eventually, most of the airports that we have throughout the United States will have some form of that Checkpoint Evolution," Baird said.
But it's not at Salt Lake International yet. Passengers here are still adjusting to the new security lanes at Terminal 1. Instead of one big line, people are allowed to choose one of three lanes, depending on how much they think they know about airport security. Baird says if you're not a seasoned traveler, you might want to stay out of the expert lane.
"There are no real rules other than you're going to feel more comfortable if you're a casual traveler and you're in a line where it's not moving so fast and people aren't rushing behind you, or people aren't making comments about how slow you may be going," he said.
Passengers tell me they think it's a good system. One man told me he doesn't fly that often and he needs a little guidance through the checkpoint. He said, "I don't understand all their little idiosyncrasies of what they need you to do."
Another traveler told me she's surprised how often other passengers slow her down in the line. She said, "I just had a friend who was going to take his pocket knife on the plane with him."
Obviously, her friend needs some guidance going through the checkpoint too.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
