b'62 MCO | SEA INFO TECHNOLOGYAirports Offer Virtual Queuing to ImprovePredictability and Flow at Security CheckpointsBY KRISTIN V. SHAWWait times at TSA checkpoints havemanagement to provide Reservation Lane long been a wildcard for travelers,powered by CLEAR, which works in a similar FACTS&FIGURESand the COVID pandemic has onlymanner. Its program launched in October Project: Online Reservations for Checkpoint Lines exacerbated the unpredictability. In addition, it2021. In both cases, the service is free for has heaped on the additional need to maintainpassengers, and the airports have a new Objectives: Improving passenger satisfaction;proper social distancing while passengers waitway to move passengers through security managing security wait times in line. checkpoints in a more predictable manner. But the industry is on it. With an eye toward improving the customer experience, manyBake-Off in SeattleLocation: Seattle-Tacoma Intl Airport airports took advantage of the unexpectedWhen Lance Lyttle Cost to Travelers: $0 downtime last year while passenger trafficaccepted his current Cost to Airport: Undisclosed slumped to make improvements. Two airports inposition as managing particularSeattle-Tacoma International Airportdirector, Aviation Division, System: Spot Saver by Pangiam, powered byat SEA, lines at security WhyLine & Copenhagen Optimization (SEA) and Orlando International Airport (MCO)zeroed in on improving the predictability ofcheckpoints sometimesLANCE LYTTLEPilot Launch: May 2021 backed up into the airport checkpoint wait times for passengers. Passenger Use: Nearly 267,000 (as of Dec. 2021)garage, creating wait times of an hour or more. The two airports ended up with similarSo Lyttle asked his team to come up with systems, but took very different routes to getsuggestions to mitigate the bottlenecks. there. By coincidence, the happiest place on Location: Orlando Intl AirportEarth influenced both strategies.In the meantime, SEA employed a manual System: Reservation Lane powered by CLEAR method Lyttle saw Customs and Border The team at SEA blazed the trail andProtection use when he was traveling Cost to Travelers: $0 got its pilot up and running in May 2021.frequently from Toronto to the U.S. Staff Cost to Airport: $0 (provided by CLEAR inIt chose technology firm Pangiam to buildwould simply find travelers on flights leaving exchange for opportunity to market its paid servicesSEA Spot Saver, which allows passengers toimminently and direct them to the front of to passengers) claim specific queue times by making online the lines. At the time, technology for virtual Launched: Oct. 2021 reservations within 15-minute windows.queuing did not exist. Passenger Use: 200,000 (as of Dec. 2021) At MCO, CLEAR approached airport January | February 2022AirportImprovement.com'