How long are Charlotte airport lines, really? We tested their online estimates.
As crowds grow at Charlotte Douglas International Airport during the busy summer travel season, many passengers have voiced their concerns about long lines.
Airport officials say travelers can check wait times for security checkpoints online while walking through the terminal lobby or before even heading to the airport.
Some customers have complained that their waits are longer than the estimate. On at least one day in May, frustrated travelers took to Twitter to report crowded lines that may have been exacerbated by weather concerns and guns packed in carry-ons.
But a test of the system by The Charlotte Observer in late May showed real-time waits lined up with the online estimates.
The airport launched its online security checkpoint wait-time tool in October 2020. The tool uses “light detection and ranging” sensors to measure wait times at the checkpoints.
“We have seen it to be fairly accurate,” chief operating officer Jack Christine told reporters Thursday.
And the airport plans to add additional sensors over the next few months to increase coverage, Christine said.
Testing the wait time estimates
At 9:40 a.m. on a Thursday in late May wait times at Checkpoint E were estimated to be 10 to 20 minutes, according to the online tool.
And one man the Observer watched through the Checkpoint E line made it through in just about 20 minutes.
About a half hour later, another man made it through in just over 10 minutes.
The airport also double-checks its online wait time tool much in the same way the Observer tested it, Christine said.
Employees time individual passengers moving through the line and compare it to the online wait time estimates.
In the meantime, Checkpoint A showed longer wait times throughout the morning that day — a particularly busy travel day — with an estimated line taking 21 to 44 minutes, according to the online tool.
Still, one woman made it through that line in a little over 17 minutes, as Charlotte airport workers directed dozens of people out of that line and over to Checkpoint E.
Checkpoint E has higher capacity to deal more people, TSA spokesman Mark Howell told the Observer. So while lines may look longer at times, that checkpoint typically moves faster than other lines.
“So if somebody recommends you go to E checkpoint as opposed to one of the smaller checkpoints, they’re doing that to hep you out,” Howell said. “We’re trying to spread that volume across all of those checks.”
Checking out PreCheck
Closer to noon on the same day, Shay Watts was directed away from Checkpoint B to Checkpoint A. Watts is flying to Cancun.
She’s not worried about the lines, but doesn’t like to be separated from her travel partner, who has PreCheck. That TSA program is $85 for five years and travelers can enroll online. PreCheck travelers do not have to remove shoes, belts, light jackets or take laptops or liquids out of their bags.
PreCheck is a great resource for passengers worried about long lines at the airport, Howell said. “94% of passengers last month waited five minutes or less in a TSA PreCheck line,” he said.
Chris Douglas, who was flying to from Charlotte to Seattle, has TSA PreCheck. Douglas got to the airport about an hour before her flight, but isn’t worried about lines.
“I haven’t had a problem yet,” Douglas said.
Passenger complaints at Charlotte airport
Still, some passengers took to social media to complain about the long lines. On May 17, Charlotte Douglas travelers complained on Twitter about security checkpoint lines spanning across the lobby.
“Charlotte Airport is a madhouse,” one traveler posted on Twitter. “Get there early.”
A number of issues collided that day that may have caused the traveler traffic jam, Howell told the Observer at the time. “It was a bit of a perfect storm,” he said.
Weather-related cancellations the previous day had pushed some travelers to morning flights, running into typical traffic at the airport, he said. Plus, two firearms were found at separate security checkpoints that morning, Howell said.
According to the airport’s security wait time tool on that day, the longest lines were at Checkpoints A and E just before noon. Those lines had wait times of up to 44 minutes.
But one traveler who flew out of the Charlotte airport that day emailed the Observer disputing that estimate: “I flew out of Charlotte this morning to Dallas and calling it a madhouse would be an understatement.
“TSA is off their rocker if they claimed 40 minutes and 20 minutes were the longest wait times.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 12:54 PM.
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