Queuing Theory and Wait Times Queuing, otherwise known as waiting in line, is something that most people feel they know how to do, yet struggle with in practice. Efficient queuing is critical for businesses. For airlines and other businesses which provide time-dependent services, queuing is necessary to ensure efficiency. For the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), queuing is also a matter of safety. To ensure all passengers are appropriately screened, the TSA must ensure that flyers are able to wait in an orderly line and receive appropriate direction. Yet when people are forced to wait in line, they are often angry and agitated. This is especially true in situations such as an airport in which passengers may be worried about missing flights or have gotten up very early in the morning, endured a hectic commute, or face other pressures regarding their flight. Waiting in line is yet another inconvenience.

The fact that TSA officials are a representative of a public agency is an added responsibility. If people are treated poorly by TSA officials, this reflects poorly upon public servants and the government agency the officials serve. It may also make otherwise law-abiding citizens think worse of their government...

Moving lines quickly and making the experience a positive one is important. This underlines the psychological dimension of queueing and expediting queuing that is only a factor when dealing with human beings.
As noted by Ferreira (et al. 2011), there are many ways in which inventory can be organized in terms of a queue, such as a first in and last out method, or a last in and first out method. In the case of human beings, efficiency is not always possible. Rather, fairness and perceptions of fairness are; for example, while it can be useful to expedite the passage of some individuals through a queue if they have additional security background checks, this must be weighed with the potential negative of the ire it tends to stir among those who are waiting. Still, even in other industries, there have been attempts to have different waiting and queueing times for people, based upon segmenting their status, as noted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (n.d.). For example, individuals with less lengthy appointments may have staggered appointments with those who are being seen for more intensive procedures. While this is…