The TSA has always been oblivious to public opinion… until now.

They are running a contest, where they want people to submit ideas on a model on how they can improve the speed of their checkpoints and are willing to pay $15,000 to the best idea.

According to the contest, the TSA is looking for “the Next Generation Checkpoint Queue Design Model to apply a scientific and simulation modeling approach to meet the dynamic security screening environment.”  The new queue design should include, but not limited to the following queue lanes:

• TSA Pre✓
• Standard
• Premier Passengers (1st class, business class, frequent fliers, etc.)
• Employee and Flight Crews
• PWD (wheelchair access)

There will be a guaranteed award of $15,000, with at least one award being no smaller than $5,000 and no award being smaller than $2,500.  The deadline is August 15, 2014 and the winner will be determined by “the seeker” which is presumably the TSA/DHS.

Some Info About The Model: 

The model shall provide the capability to design the queue so as to accommodate multiple passenger groups including TSA Pre✓™ and maintain a queue wait time that does not exceed 5 minutes for the TSA Pre✓ and a queue wait time that does not exceed 10 minutes for all other queues

The model shall properly mimic the queue lines.  It begins when passengers join the last individual in queue, passengers arrive at the Travel Document Checker (TDC) for screening, passengers proceed to the lane queues and end as passengers arrive at the checkpoint lanes where divesting begins.

Ideal outcomes from this Challenge:

• A better passenger experience
• Decreased wait times in TSA Pre✓™ and standard lanes
• A better organized queue
• A better management experience for the participating airports

Bottom Line

The TSA is looking to the general public to ‘design the line’. It seems like an awesome idea and $15,000 isn’t too shabby of a prize, perhaps the winner will also get life-time Pre-Check status?

Who is planning on submitting their proposal to the TSA?

I feel one thing to think about is what happens to those passengers that qualify for both Premier Passengers (1st class, business class, frequent fliers, etc.) as well as TSA Pre-Check. Perhaps like a Premier TSA Pre-Check line?