TSA facing backlash over long lines

WASHINGTON (AP) - Facing a growing backlash over extremely long waits at airport security, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has asked fliers "to be patient" as the government takes steps to get them onto planes more quickly.

Travelers across the country have endured lengthy security lines, some snaking up and down escalators, or through food courts, and into terminal lobbies. At some airports, lines during peak hours have topped 90 minutes. Airlines have reported holding planes at gates to wait for passengers to clear security.

The Transportation Security Administration has fewer screeners and has tightened security procedures. Airlines and the TSA have been warning customers to arrive at the airport two hours in advance, but with summer travel season approaching even that might not be enough.

The biggest help to ease lines is to have more fliers enroll in the PreCheck program .

PreCheck gives previously vetted passengers special screening. Shoes, belts and light jackets stay on. Laptops and liquids stay in bags. And these fliers go through standard metal detectors rather than the explosive-detecting full-body scanners most pass through.

PreCheck security lanes can screen 300 passengers an hour, twice that of standard lanes.

The TSA's goal was to have 25 million fliers enrolled in the program. But as of March 1, only 9.3 million people were PreCheck members. Getting once-a-year fliers to join has been a challenge.

Johnson Friday said that 10,000 people applied for PreCheck Thursday, up from 8,500 a day in April and 7,500 in March. Still, at that pace, it will take more than four years to reach 25 million members.