ATLANTA — Weather combined with a government shutdown is taking its toll on staffing. It’s the reason travelers at the Atlanta airport found themselves in lines for more than two hours on Monday morning trying to get through security.
“This is just really bad,” said Robin Snowden while waiting in a TSA security line, on her way to St. Louis.
She is one of thousands caught in long security lines that went well beyond cordoned off security areas and snaked all the way to baggage claim. At points security wait times posted waits as long as 127 minutes.
“Insane and stressful,” said college student Talia Mayes headed on spring break.
We’re LIVE at the airport where wait times are already close to an hour Tuesday. What passengers need to know before arriving, on Channel 2 Action News This Morning from 4:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Monday’s long lines were a result of a weather-related ground stop at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, weather delays up and down the eastern seaboard combined with Monday morning business travel and spring break.
“No one knows what to do. We are all college kids, so we have to call our parents. Obviously, they’re working,” said traveler Bailee Mather.
But the main contributor to the long lines is the partial government shutdown which means TSA staffing shortages.
“To be quite frank, officers are pissed off,” said AFGE Local 554 President and TSA worker Aaron Barker. “They have reasons for not showing up whether it’s I can’t put gas in my car, I have to take care of my children.”
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The shortage of workers even impacted some Clear lines that fliers paid for. Atlanta airport officials saying they’re making a day-by-day decision on if Clear lines would be open.
Monday isn’t the first day of long lines. The union representing TSA workers contends that the worker shortage will continue, as workers are out of options.
“It very different this time because of the close proximity, to the previous shut down the 43 day shut down: the resources and things, they just aren’t there anymore,” added Barker.
The airport wait times technology was also down for a while Monday. Workers had to manually input the wait times. They’re working to get that fixed by Tuesday.
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