then a look at the presidential primary system from the early 20th century to today. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2016] mike: good morning. president obama has arrived in germany the third stop on his week long overseas trip following a summit that took place in saudi arabia. the meeting friday and aturday.

time when the lines are getting longer the tempers are flaring. some missing flights due to security checkpoint delays. that's our focus as we begin this sunday morning. we are dividing our phone lines between frequent fliers. and all others. good surned morning to you. thanks for being with us. long delays at denver international airport. here's a story from denver, colorado. the website is called the denver channel.com. this is travelers and staff

frustrated due to hour-long sta waits at denver, international. the wait times to pass through at some points was more than 90 minutes long. according to dia officials. passengers saying that the lines to get through security screenings were wrapped around the luggage claim area. here is what senator john thune, who led the f.a.a. debate in the senate, had to say this past week. >> ensuring dangerous criminals don't work behind the scenes at airports is one important thing we can do to reduce the threats. tightening the vetting process for airport employees is

especially critical as many experts believe the recent bombing of russian passenger jet leaving egypt had help. our bill also includes security provisions to better safeguard public areas outside the security checkpointings and to help reduce passengers back ups. these could help prevent future attacks like the one in brussels last month which targeted a crowd of passengers in an area where they didn't even need tickets. while many address procks, none were cobbled together in a rush to do something. all of the security propoflse added to the bill were added for months. oversight, independent evaluation and the study of existing problems. but recent attacks by isis did create is new urgency to enact these security safe zpwaurds as the threat of terrorism remains a men as.

>> senator john thune republican of south dakota who led the senate debate on the f.a.a. reauthorization bill passing overwhelmingly in the senate now goes to the house. we want to get your experiences with t.s.a. security. part of the overall debate about what's happening at airports around the country. or frequent fliers. the number to call. ive for if associated press.

let's talk about what happened in the senate this week and moving ahead what we can expect in the house in the coming weeks. it did pass with only three no votes. did that surprise you? caller: no. they crafted a very bipartisan bill. senator thune and the snrt democrat on the commerce committee bill nelson worked together on this bill and they only allowed provisions to the bill that had bipartisan support. host: so now that goes to the house. and there's some question whether or not congressman shuster will take up key elements of the f.a.a. bill. can you explain? guest: yes. one of the things that senator thune did to make the bill acceptable to both sides and to get it through the senate was to keep proposals to privatize air traffic control out of the senate bill. senator shuster is determined to get a bill that does craft

privatized air traffic control. that is spin it off into a private nonprofit corporation. and that's very controversial. so if he insists on doing it that way, it may wind up with no bill this year or it will be very hard to get a bill out of the house that's also acceptable to the senate. host: that was my next question. what is the time line? because it did drag longer than expected in the senate. so what could we expect in the house in the coming weeks or maybe the coming months? guest: well, there's a july 15 deadline. i don't think it's a real hurdle but that's when the f.a.a.'s current authorization that's current authority for powers -- to use its powers and programs expires. so congress needs to do something by july 15th. but they could very easily just

do a temporary extension for a few more months or a year. so it's not clear that something will happen in this congress. it could. but it's unsure at this point especially since members are going to be gone so much of the year because it's an election year and they have a very light schedule in both the house and the senate. host: let me ask you about another part of the debate. this is a headline. we've been seeing stories in recent weeks about the long lines. we're asking our viewers and listeners about their own experiences dealing with t.s.a. the headline summer fliers may simmer on long airport security lines.

during the week of march 14 to march 20 nearly 6800 passengers missed their flight due to checkpoint delays. can you elaborate? guest: sure. there's a lot going on behind that. three years ago, t.s.a. created this sort of trusted traveler program, preczech, where passengers who have been vetted for security get to go into faster lines. they don't have to take off their shoes or their belts or their light jackets. lap tops and liquids can stay in their bags. but at the same time, t.s.a.'s staff was reduced by about 10% with the thought that they wouldn't need as many screeners because they would be moving so many people faster through hese trusted traveler lanes.

but what's happened is they didn't get enough people to sign up for those trusted traveler lanes. and at the same time, they have passengers s in traveling because the economy has gotten better. so admiral peter nevadainger who testified before the commerce committee in the senate just a couple weeks ago, you know, this is rejust recently as last year t.s.a. was screening about 1.8 million passengers a day. and now it's up to 2.2 million a day on average. so that's a pretty significant increase at the same time it had a reduction in staff. host: joan lowy just want to point out a couple of comments on t.s.a. security. your experiences.

let me ask you about the issue of privatizing t.s.a. where is that debate? guest: well, because of these long lines several of the airports are threatening to ire private screening firms to vet, to do the screening of passengers. seattle is very seriously discussing that in terms of more as a supplement to t.s.a. republicans in the house not necessarily all republicans but many have long been critical of

t.s.a. and have wanted to privatize it. i don't know that if that has enough steam to get through. host: joan lowy, stay with us if you would for just a moment but let me remind our viewers and listeners, here are the phone numbers. our question t.s.a. security your own experiences dealing with security at the airport checkpoints especially as many report recently chokepoints, delays, many missing flights including lines as long as 90 minutes just yesterday at denver's international airport. let me go back to the debate over the bill. this is more from the chair of

the senate committee overseeing transportation issues senator john thune of south dakota. >> part of this bill airlines will be required to return fees if they lose or significantly delay delivery of passengers' luggage. we also require airlines to automatically return fees for services purchased but not delivered so that travelers don't have to go through the hassle of trying to reclaim money from an airline. because many customers are frustrated by lengthy legal jargon that can make it difficult to understand add-on costs our bill creates a new, easy to read, uniformed standard for disclosing baggage, ticket change, seat selection, and other fees. we even help families with children find flights where they can sit together without additional costs by requiring airlines to tell purchasers about available seat locations at the time of booking. a "washington post" consumer columnist called our bill one of the most pass yer friendly administration reauthorization bills in a generation.

host: comments of the chair senator john thune. it does appear that consumer issues are being heard on capitol hill. guest: yes. consumers are angry. airline passengers are unhappy about a whole lot of things. not just the t.s.a. lines. and the senate was responding to that. they put in as senator thune said, regulations to standardize how airlines disclose fees so that consumers can better comparison shop for tickets. consumers are frustrated that they see an air fare and they see a dozen air fares but when they go to actually buy tickets, the actual price is different because -- and can vary a great deal between airlines because of fees. so they're trying to standardize that.

and they want airlines to automatically refund checked bag fee that is arrive more than six hours after a domestic flight lands or 12 hours after an international flight. the idea is you paid this fee. you ought to get the service. and they also have another provision in there that would require fees in general to be automatically refunded by airlines if you don't get the service. so let's say you paid for early boarding and you didn't get that. i shouldn't be surprised, but airlines don't necessarily give you that money back. if they didn't deliver what they promised. so sometimes they will give vouchers. but frequently you don't get anything even though you paid for it. covering y,

transportation. thank you very much for being with us. we appreciate it. guest: my pleasure. host: let me share with you another comment on our facebook page. host: cindy from maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i really like listening to ms. lowy, her comments about the checked fee for bags and that -- there has been so many times where i've had to wait around for hours for my bag to arrive or come back the next day or even never received my bags. in fact, once -- well, that's happened several times where i've had to put in claims and i never get any reimbursement. i've lost phones.

my phone was part of an identity theft ring found two years later. internationally. but the -- there's really two issues for me. i was traveling with a pet and they lost my pet. my pet was taken to three other destinations before it was brought back to bwi. and it was just really ridiculous. but one of the more recent times that i traveled, i accidentally put something in a bag or checked the wrong bag and ended up careying the bag that was meant to be checked through security with me but didn't realize because the bags looked the same. and i had a night light in there for my grandchildren. it was wrapped in bubble wrap and gn it should not have come through checked security it should have gone through checked bag and to the cargo section.

but when we went through security, they stopped, they evacuated the area. they stopped the lines. i missed my flight. i don't know how many other people missed my flight. i tried to explain to them what was in there. that it was a night light. the cord was wrapped around it. i mean, i have no background. i've had security -- >> host: they didn't let you open it up? didn't they take you and say we're going to open this? guest: caller: no. they called for the local supervisor of the terrorist bomb squad. and he had to come. they had about six or seven people looking at the screen. at the monitor. and then they started turning it into a teaching opportunity to pull other people over to show them what to look for. in the meanwhile, i think my flight was maybe early dinnertime. i was not able to get out of the airport on another flight

until i think 1:00 a.m. in the morning or 12:00 midnight. it was the last flight. but they evacuated the area. they brought dogs in. other people they had to evacuate other areas as well. thinking it was a bomb. and it was a night light. i mean, i can understand i carried the wrong bag through. but they would not allow me. and they had the ability to do all that they would have had the ability to look on the passenger screening and see that i do not have a criminal background. i am very american. not that anybody else isn't. but i don't at all fit any of the type of visual profiles that they would typically be suspicious of. host: we're going to move on but thank you very much for your call from maryland. if you are a frequent flier your own experiences dealing with t.s.a.

good morning to you. caller: thiss krisa calling. we have flown several times overseas mostly to germany and other european countries and i wonder why they can do it and there is no line which i'm experiencing coming in or going out of country. this is just a nightmare. you're standing there forever. i don't know what the point is. we are going through several areas and we are screened once. coming in here or sometimes changing every time i'm hearing this is american security. you have to go through different lines and every time extra time which you already have to take which i really don't understand. i wonder if somebody actually looks in other countries how they do it.

thank you. host: we're looking at some of the scenes at t.s.a. checkpoints around the country. this story from u.s.a. today. seattle, tacoma, international airport became one of the latest. they warned passengers to expect longer wait lines because of t.s.a. staffing not keeping pace with passenger volumes and the hash tag was pack your patience. and this from another viewer not on the security issues but the airlines themselves.