Few Memorial Day airport headaches, most wait times bearable

MIAMI (AP) — Travelers who had braced for long lines and long waits were instead moving through most U.S. airports fairly quickly today, as the busy Memorial Day travel weekend drew to close.

"Honestly it wasn't too bad," said Kendra Morehead of Wooster, Ohio, who flew from Detroit to Denver for a conference. "I got to the airport an hour and a half early, but security only took like 15 minutes."

The airlines, however, weren't ready to say "mission accomplished" yet, as it's just the beginning of the busy summer travel season.

"Things have been going pretty well so far this weekend and we are working hard to make sure that we have no repeat of what we saw in Chicago," said American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein, referring to Chicago O'Hare International Airport, which had some of the worst screening problems in recent weeks.

The TSA began deploying extra canine teams to the busiest airports months ago. The dogs can screen large groups of passengers for explosives, eliminating the need to remove shoes and laptops, TSA spokesman Mike England said last week.