SFO holding steady

San Francisco International Airport moved passengers through security in about 10 to 25 minutes on Friday, April 17, even as other airports faced heavier disruption. (flysfo.com) (ibtimes.com.au) SFO says it has six security checkpoints, and every checkpoint offers TSA PreCheck, a priority lane and CLEAR. The airport also lets same-day ticketed passengers enter through any terminal checkpoint and walk to any gate after screening. (flysfo.com 1) (flysfo.com 2) Checkpoint hours start as early as 3:15 a.m. at SFO, with some lanes running until 2:00 a.m. The Transportation Security Administration says PreCheck lane hours can change with operations, but the service is available at SFO checkpoints. (flysfo.com) (tsa.gov) SFO’s setup is unusual among big U.S. airports because passenger screening is carried out by Covenant Aviation Security, a private contractor working under Transportation Security Administration oversight. The airport says SFO is the largest airport in the Screening Partnership Program, which lets airports use certified private screeners instead of a fully federal screening workforce. (flysfo.com 1) (flysfo.com 2) That matters in a spring when airport operations have been under pressure in multiple places. In Germany on April 11, a Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine cabin-crew strike led to more than 500 flight cancellations at Frankfurt alone by Friday morning and affected at least 72,000 passengers, according to Fraport figures cited by The Independent. (independent.co.uk) SFO has its own operational strain this year, but it is on the airfield rather than at the checkpoint. The airport said Runway 1R closed on March 30 for repaving and is scheduled to reopen on October 2, with arrivals and departures shifted to runways 28 Left and 28 Right during the project. (flysfo.com) The airport is handling that traffic with a large base of travelers. SFO reported 54,118,814 passengers in fiscal 2025, and United Airlines accounted for 48.7% of seats, the biggest share at the airport. (flysfo.com) For travelers on Friday, the practical picture was straightforward: short security lines at a 54 million-passenger hub, with multiple checkpoints open before dawn and post-security walkways linking every gate area. (ibtimes.com.au) (flysfo.com 1) (flysfo.com 2)