The TSA is testing its new “chat-down” procedures at Boston’s Logan Airport and it’s causing major delays at security checkpoints for passengers.

Backups lasted for about four hours after the Transportation Security Administration began testing a procedure that requires more human interaction between security agents and passengers.

The process takes about 30 seconds, but it caused many passengers to be delayed. TSA agents engaged in “chat downs” while checking their IDs and boarding passes.

The pilot program began last month in Logan’s Terminal A. It’s designed to analyze passenger behavior. The risk-based approach requires passengers to answer simple questions as they go through security.

A key part of the program is to assess every single passenger, except that this is a logistical nightmare, bordering on impossible, particularly so at the nation’s busiest airports. The TSA has already begun shifting the blame by saying part of the problem was Delta Airlines’ fault.

A TSA spokeswoman said part of the reason behind the delay was a large amount of Delta Airlines flights scheduled within a small time frame. To speed up the process, they tripled the number of security agents, they said, and the maximum wait time was 27 minutes.

If anyone is paying attention, airline schedules are set far in advance. The TSA should have factored Delta’s departure times into their screenings before they began this pilot program. Instead, they underestimated exactly what was needed and created a bottleneck at the security line that would be a prime target for any would-be terrorist.

An airline worker said the lines were the worst he had seen in 30 years, but the TSA said they were pleased with how the pilot program has gone over the last month and in time it will help them decide who needs more screening and who needs less.

Everyone can see what a waste of time these programs are for security, yet the TSA feels they are a success. If angering your customers and creating prime targets for terrorists is the goal here, then the TSA is doing an excellent job.