Be prepared: more changes are coming for your security check-in at airports. The Transportation Security Administration is looking into new high-tech scanners that will be able to digitally unpack carry-on bags. The scanners will give the TSA agent a detailed 3-D image of what’s inside the bags. The TSA predicts that an additional 100,000 to 400,000 will pass through U.S. airport checkpoints every day from now until Jan. 2 because of holiday travel. This means a total of 2.5 million people each day will be heading through security. The TSA is preparing for the surge, with about 46,000 screening officers and 230 dog teams working checkpoints. However, officers failed to detect smuggled weapons and mock explosives at an audit this year, so Congress is demanding the agency roll out new technology that is more effective when screening luggage. There are currently 3-D scanners that look at all checked luggage, but the equipment is too longer for passenger checkpoints. These newer models are smaller, so they can fit. You might not notice the device because it will look like the typical 2-D scanner that airports have now. They are already installed at Boston Logan airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor. They will be put in at JFK and Chicago O’Hare in 2018. Each one costs about $300,000.
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