(NEW YORK) ― A new survey released today by Global Gateway Alliance showed passengers are fed up with security lines at New York area airports and think TSA needs to do a better job of improving the experience and tracking wait times. The survey of more than 300 individuals in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area found that for every positive impression of airport security in the region, there were two “bad” or “very bad” ones. 

The report, which coincides with the start of the summer travel season, finds that three-quarters of respondents would like TSA to track and publish wait times on a publicly available website, a practice which the agency jettisoned in 2008. Instead, TSA now relies on passengers to upload their wait times onto an app called MyTSA, but our survey found only 5 percent of passengers use it.

Respondents believe TSA could mitigate the problem facing security chiefly by implementing a more accessible TSA PreCheck program and expanding the TSA workforce. While only 12 percent of those surveyed are currently enrolled in TSA PreCheck, over 65 percent would be more likely to enroll if TSA made improvements to the program, including improving enrollment accessibility, cost, and advertising. 

Global Gateway Alliance Chairman Joe Sitt said, “These findings demonstrate what we’ve long suspected: passengers are sick and tired of getting stuck on long lines when they’re trying to move through the airport. And with passenger traffic on the rise year in, year out, TSA needs to take action now. We need long term commitments from TSA and long term funding from Congress to ensure proper staffing at our airports, more PreCheck lanes are open, and enrollment centers are in places where people will actually use them. When it comes to our airports, security must come first, and TSA’s job is too important to get wrong.”