"Atlanta airport chief pins logjam on staffing"

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Airport chief pins logjam on staffing
TSA vows to do better
By MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution


Atlanta's airport needs more security screeners during the busy summer
travel season to avoid long lines like Monday's, which left passengers
standing outside, the airport's general manager said.

"It's inadequate staffing for the job they need to do," Ben DeCosta,
general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, said
Tuesday.

Passengers had to wait outside Hartsfield-Jackson on Monday in a line
that stretched for a half mile. 'It's inadequate staffing,' Ben DeCosta,
airport general manager, said Tuesday.

"Until the Transportation Security Administration can reallocate its
staff from less-busy airports to more-busy airports, we will continue to
have these problems as traffic comes back," DeCosta said.

He spoke at a news conference called a day after Monday's logjam, in
which the start-of-the-week rush was worsened by weekend bad weather
that stranded hundreds of travelers.

The TSA will use overtime pay to boost summer staffing nationwide,
agency spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said. The agency will also
"aggressively manage the leave and vacation times of the screeners,"
Clark said.

The agency is operating under a congressionally imposed cap of 45,000
full-time screeners nationwide. In March, Hartsfield-Jackson had 80
unfilled openings for full-time screeners.

Clark could not say how many positions have since been filled. Because
of staffing shortages in Atlanta this spring, the TSA mandated six-day
workweeks for screeners until part-time screeners came on board.

DeCosta says the number of part-time screeners isn't enough to keep all
checkpoint lanes open during rush hours or give full-time screeners
backup during lunch and rest breaks.

The TSA needs to put seven screeners on each screening station, instead
of the current five, DeCosta said.

Wait times vary wildly, with chronic backups on Monday morning and at
other peak times like Friday afternoon.

Early Tuesday morning, wait times were about 20 to 30 minutes, and by 10
a.m. had dropped to less than 10 minutes.

About 400 passengers missed their flights Monday morning, DeCosta said.
While the TSA says it had all 18 main checkpoint lanes open at 6 a.m.
Monday, DeCosta disagrees.

The TSA had only 12 lanes open at 6 a.m., 15 lanes at 6:15 a.m., 17
lanes at 7 a.m. and 18 lanes by 7:30 a.m., according to a letter from
DeCosta to TSA Federal Security Director Willie Williams.

In one move to streamline screening, the airport plans to hand out
plastic zipper bags to passengers this summer as they wait in line.
Travelers will be asked to take off jewelry, cellphones, coins and other
metal items and put them in the bag while they wait in line.

When they reach the checkpoint they'll be ready for screening, airport
spokeswoman Lanii Thomas said.

Attached Photo:

Passengers had to wait outside Hartsfield-Jackson on Monday in a line
that stretched for a half mile. 'It's inadequate staffing,' Ben DeCosta,
airport general manager, said Tuesday.

image_661566.jpg