New automated security lanes at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's main terminal will make air travel safer and more efficient for the nearly 12 million people who are screened here annually, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
But it will take a little time to get used to.
"Wait, what's going on here?" one woman asked a TSA agent Tuesday, as she tried to hoist her suitcase onto the security conveyor belt.
TSA formally introduced four "innovation lanes" at the south checkpoint in Terminal 1 a week ago and showed them off Tuesday to reporters.
It's part of a national rollout of the lanes — MSP is the seventh airport in the nation to be outfitted.
The north checkpoint at Terminal 1 will likely be outfitted next year, according to Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which runs MSP and paid for the equipment.
The $2.1 million system focuses on bags and luggage travelers lug aboard — it does not involve body screening.
The system features bins that are 25 percent larger than typical containers. Travelers place the requisite items in them (shoes, belts, laptop computers, jackets, and even suitcases) and push the bin onto a conveyor belt that then inches toward a TSA agent checking for contraband using X-ray equipment.