$15,000 Could Be Yours If You Fix This Evil Airport Affliction

Calling all brains: The TSA is looking for someone to help them figure out this major airport headache -- and is willing to pay for the solution.

learn more about Kim Lachance Shandrow

By Kim Lachance Shandrow

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Take it from the Transportation Safety Administration: The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. The second step is dangling a reward up to $15,000 to fix a major airport headache -- the dreaded security line.

Yup, those unbearably long, frustrating security check lines aren't getting any better -- even the fast-track TSA PreCheck program can't remedy them.

Because the TSA has no clue how to make its hellish lines faster, it's literally passing the buck, to anyone smart enough to put an end to this airport scourge.

Related: Why the TSA Now Wants You to Turn On Your Cell Phone Before Boarding

Earlier this month, the agency threw up its collective gloved hands and put out a wordy, convoluted "Ideation Challenge" on InnoCentive, an online hub that brings together intelligent people to solve problems.

The open call for submissions (i.e. cry for help) solicits solutions from any brave soul who can design a "Next Generation Checkpoint Queue Design Model to apply a scientific and simulation modeling approach to meet queue design and configuration needs of the dynamic security screening environment with TSA PreCheck™." Huh? Basically, Uncle Sam wants and needs you to speed up those airport lines already.

Related: Traveling Coach on U.S. Flights Has Become a Serious Pain

The agency is so desperate it is offering the whizzes who help them tackle the tall task a fistful of cold, hard cash. Runners up receive $2,500 and those with the best submissions score between $5,000 and $15,000. Even the fattest payout is a little stingy for taking some of the headache out of one of the most annoying travel-related evils of our time, wouldn't you say?

Think you have what it takes to speed up the TSA's trailing lines? Better move fast. The deadline for submissions is Aug. 18.

Related: This In-Flight Gadget Prevents Pushy Passengers From Reclining Their Seats

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here

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