More security staff rushed to Chicago’s O’Hare airport as enormous queues cause thousands to miss flights

More Transportation Security Administration staff will be dispatched to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in response to interminable security lines causing thousands of passengers to miss flights.

Fifty-eight security officers and four bomb-sniffing canine teams will be sent to O’Hare “immediately,” according to an announcement Tuesday from US Senator Dick Durbin.

A separate announcement from the city later in the day said 100 current TSA officers at O’Hare and Midway Airport will shift from part time to full time within days; 250 additional officers will be assigned to both airports by August; more morning shifts will be added for screeners; and the amount of authorised overtime will triple.

Officials with the TSA and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Chicago Department of Aviation spokesman said TSA would provide the city with a more detailed plan.

It remains to be seen whether the new staffers can make a dent in the hours-long wait times at some airports that have forced airlines to hold planes at their gates while more passengers clear security. O’Hare officials are advising passengers to arrive three hours before their flights.

Security lines with waits of more than two hours caused around 450 American Airlines passengers to miss their flights out of O’Hare on Sunday, and many who could not get onto a later flight slept at the terminal, according to a company spokeswoman.

TSA officials announced this week it will hire almost 800 new officers for airports nationwide this month and put up more funding for part-time workers and overtime.