Airport lines slow amid shutdown
Some unpaid screeners in Atlanta are no-shows
ATLANTA — Air travelers endured waits of more than an hour to get through domestic checkpoints at the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta on Monday, the first business day after security screeners missed paychecks for the first time due to partial government shutdown.
No-shows among screeners across the nation soared Sunday and again Monday, when the Transportation Security Administration reported a national absence rate of 7.6 percent, compared with 3.2 percent on the comparable Monday a year ago.
Hartsfield-jackson Atlanta International Airport reported the long lines on its website Monday morning, showing the hour-plus waits at all three checkpoints in the domestic terminal.
“It’s chaos out here,” passenger Vincent Smith said as he stood in a line that snaked through the Atlanta airport’s atrium and baggage claim areas. “This line, I’ve been here about 15 minutes and it has moved 2 feet.”
TSA is working with airports and airlines nationwide to consolidate operations and get the most out of resources, spokesman Jim Gregory said.
Atlanta’s wait times stretched well beyond what the TSA says most pas- sengers have encountered since the shutdown began.
Delta Air Lines, the dominant carrier in Atlanta, and other airlines said they were advising passengers to get to the airport at least two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international trips. A Delta spokeswoman said airline employees were helping to manage TSA lines.
TSA said it screened 1.97 million people on Sunday and that 99.1 percent waited less than 30 minutes, and 93.1 percent less than 15 minutes.
Precheck lines for people who pay a fee for expedited screening averaged less than five minutes, TSA said.
A combination of a busy Monday travel day combined with some security lines being closed led to the long lines, airport spokesman Andrew Gobeil said. He said he didn’t know how many security lines were down.
A statement from TSA attributed the long waits in Atlanta to “anticipated high volume.”
Across the country, airports are making changes to deal with the shortage of screeners.
Monday’s long wait times came less than three weeks before Atlanta hosts one of the world’s biggest sporting events. Super Bowl 53 on Feb. 3 is expected to bring hordes of travelers.