Boston-- New security procedures being tested at Logan International Airport caused significant backups at security checkpoints Thursday, according to airlines.
Backups lasted for about four hours after the Transportation Security Administration began testing a procedure that requires more human interaction between security agents and passengers.
The process takes about 30 seconds, but it caused many passengers to be delayed. TSA agents engaged in "chat downs" while checking their IDs and boarding passes.
The pilot program began last month in Logan's Terminal A. It's designed to analyze passenger behavior. The risk-based approach requires passengers to answer simple questions as they go through security.
"The bottom line is, we want to assess the risk of every passenger, and then manage that risk appropriately," said George Naccara of the TSA.
Thursday afternoons are usually busy at Logan but frequent flyers said it normally doesn't come close to the jams that were experienced this week.
"Look at the lines. There's something wrong if they're trying to do something that you've got this long of a line of people waiting to come through," said one man.
A TSA spokeswoman said part of the reason behind the delay was a large amount of Delta Airlines flights scheduled within a small time frame. To speed up the process, they tripled the number of security agents, they said, and the maximum wait time was 27 minutes.
Passengers were unimpressed.
"I think they need a tweak or two," said one woman.
An airline worker said the lines were the worst he had seen in 30 years, but the TSA said they were pleased with how the pilot program has gone over the last month and in time it will help them decide who needs more screening and who needs less.
if I answered their questions with "None of your damned business!"?