The daughter of the United States Department of Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, has called for the Transportation Security Administration be abolished after she faced delays that exceeded 15 minutes to pass through airport security, and further claims that her flight was almost missed because of it (as reported by Katu2ABC).
The daughter of Duffy, Evita Duffy-Alfonso, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her frustration. Evita, who is also pregnant, noted that, due to wanting to avoid radiation exposure from the body scanner, opted for a pat down; however, she believes that the TSA agents were rude, passive-aggressive, and tried to pressure them into using the scanner.
Almost Missed Her Flight
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Duffy-Alfonso has claimed that the TSA agents were insistent that she, and one other pregnant female traveler, were pressured into using the full-body x-ray scanners, of which she refused. Due to this, the wait for an available agent pushed the Secretarys daugther to her limit, which saw the outburst taken on social media.
According to Duffy-Alfonso, the pat-down was ‘absurdly invasive’, and due to this, the passenger almost missed her scheduled flight. Following the incident, Duffy-Alfonso noted that she perhaps should have opted to use CLEAR, which would have given her the option to bypass standard airport security and,d by using biometric data, would have enabled Duffy-Alfonso to be escorted to the front of the screening area.
Simple Flying reached out to the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for comment on the matter; neither party returned an immediate comment by the time this article was published.
‘TSA Should Be Abolished’
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Duffy-Alfonso decided to call out the current security measures required for passengers, noting that the golden age of transportation would not be able to begin unless the TSA was gone. However, ironically, as one X user responded, is that despite her father being the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, is that the Transportation Security Administration is actually under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security.
Even if Sean Duffy did hold this portfolio, any sweeping changes like those suggested by his daughter would require a lobbying effort to Congress. Alfonso-Duffy has made a direct plea to the President and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. To understand what the queues are actually like at airports across the United States, Simple Flying reviewed data as analyzed by WVTM 13 Birmingham, which outlines five of the busiest airports in the country and their current wait times:
United States Airport
IATA Code
Wait Time Less Than 15 Minutes (%)
Between 15 And 30 Minutes (%)
Between 30 And 45 Minutes (%)
More Than 45 Minutes (%)
New York John F. Kennedy Airport
JFK
4.1
95.9
–
–
Newark Liberty International Airport
EWR
38.8
59.2
2.0
–
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
DFW
48.3
49.0
2.7
–
Chicago O’Hare International Airport
ORD
49.0
50.3
0.7
–
Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport
LAS
51.0
44.2
4.1
0.7
While it would be highly unlikely that Duffy-Alfonso’s claims will make much of a difference to those in power, it does outline the challenges and emotions that some passengers face when required to wait for long periods of time to pass through airport security.
Related
US Transportation Secretary Switches Wife’s Flight To Avoid Newark Liberty Despite Claiming It’s Safe
Duffy maintains that the flight switch was not about safety, but simply to avoid flight delays.
Ways To Get Through Airport Security Quicker
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There are a number of options currently in place that can enable passengers in the United States to pass through airport security quicker than the general public. The use of TSA PreCheck or CLEAR offers expedited screening processes and permits passengers to keep shoes and belts on, while laptops can remain in their bags.
Additional steps you can take while avoiding the above memberships are dressing smart for the occassion such as wearing slip-on shoes, the use of light clothing, and avoiding belts or jackets. Excessive amounts of jewelry are also discouraged.
Additionally, it is important to familiarize yourself with airport security protocols, and be aware of prohibited items in your carry-on bags, that may be confisgated durning airport security screening.
