Sludge at the Airport
Thaler and Sunstein argue that airport security’s full cost includes passengers’ waiting and planning time. Their account uses expedited-screening programs to illustrate ways of reducing that burden.
THE IDEA
Sludge at the Airport
The figures, screening procedures, and arrival advice below describe the authors’ account at the time of writing.
As anyone who has flown on a commercial airline since September 11, 2001, knows, the experience of flying has become much more sludge-ridden. In the United States, the federal government created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on November 19, 2001, to conduct the security checks that have now become so familiar around the world. Although the annual budget of the TSA is not particularly large by government standards (in the vicinity of $8 billion 12), much of the true cost of this operation is the time passengers have to spend both waiting to get through the checkpoint and in planning arrival times to the airport. The TSA recommends that people get to the airport at least two hours before their flight. Two hours!
One successful innovation to reduce the amount of waiting-time sludge has been the introduction of the government’s Global Entry and TSA PreCheck programs, which allow millions of regular airline passengers to go through the process more quickly. This is a genuine sludge buster. The security steps are greatly reduced: passengers do not have to remove their shoes or take their laptops out of their carry-on bags. This has been estimated to save hundreds of millions of hours per year in passenger time. That is great. But we are confident that the worldwide costs of airline security checks are underestimated because they are not monetized, which is often the case for sludge. More generally, the costs governments impose on their citizens via sludge are often neglected in the design and evaluation of policies.
When to use it
Evaluating the full cost of a new government regulation by including the time citizens spend complying.
Designing user-friendly digital services that minimize steps and waiting times, reducing sludge.
Corporate process improvement to eliminate unnecessary approvals or paperwork that slow employees down.
Policy analysis of airport security balancing effectiveness against passenger time costs.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
TSA PreCheck as a Sludge Buster
The authors cite Global Entry and TSA PreCheck as ways to reduce waiting and screening steps. They report an estimate of hundreds of millions of passenger hours saved per year; the estimate is part of their historical account.
Two-Hour Arrival Recommendation
The source cites a TSA recommendation to arrive at least two hours before a flight. Its point is that planning for uncertain checkpoint delays imposes a time cost beyond the wait itself.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Where else in your daily life do you encounter sludge—unnecessary time costs imposed by systems or policies?
How might you measure or monetize the hidden time costs of a government program or corporate process?
What design changes could reduce sludge in a common bureaucratic procedure (e.g., obtaining a driver's license)?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Nudge The Final Edition (Richard H. Thaler Cass R. Sunstein)