Long TSA Lines [merged threads]
Feb 19, 2016, 1:57 pm
#16
Join Date: Jun 2007
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ATL has been a mess for years. When I lived in Atlanta in the mid-aughts, I remember lines stretching through the atrium and around the South Terminal baggage claim carousels. It's really disconcerting when you show up more than an hour before your flight, only to have to wait in a one hour line.
Feb 19, 2016, 2:03 pm
#17
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Colorado
Programs: TSA
Posts: 2,745
They are not under scrutiny like TSA, they are not paid government payroll, no one cares if they are not busy all the time, they have a constant stream of duties to perform when the next flight is coming even if it is 4 hours away. There are a lot of them at DEN that have multiple employers too. So it is easy for them to avoid the limelight.
Feb 19, 2016, 2:11 pm
#18
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Colorado
Programs: TSA
Posts: 2,745
While you are at it, please explain the reported problems at Denver several weeks ago. Specifically, all the checkpoints were closed except for a few lanes at 1 checkpoint. The wait times were over 2 hours. At first, the TSA said the airlines changed their schedule and the TSA were not told about the changes. As it turns out, management at TSA DEN "clarified" the issues and took responsibility for the staffing shortages.
Feb 19, 2016, 2:26 pm
#19
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
You are correct, the 3 checkpoints are not 24 hour operations. Two of the three are closed by 9 PM and the remaining one is staffed for airport personnel that need to come and go. When they closed the others and let the screening workforce leave at the end of the shift, there was no consideration for changes that were being made due to the weather, and existing passengers being stranded and incoming flights to take them out and cancelled flights. They would have had to hold the workforce over and authorize overtime to do that. They did not do that and it was a mess. A manager got let go for that decision.
Feb 19, 2016, 3:26 pm
#20
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As much as I'm a critic of TSA, this comparison isn't fair. All the other jobs you name can overstaff their positions in order to be able to handle peak load without anyone complaining about them when they're underused. A ramp worker with nothing to do can hide out in the break room, so nobody sees the idleness. A food service worker with nothing to do stands at the counter and waits for another customer; nobody seems to mind if McDonalds has a bunch of its employees standing and doing nothing, if in fact there's nothing to be done at that moment.
A TSO with nothing to do, however, becomes a poster child for "Thousands Standing Around". It becomes a convenient image for those who already dislike the TSA to put forward as evidence against them, when it's really just the ebb and flow of normal work cycles.
So, if y'all want to criticize the TSA for long waits at peak times, y'all have to give up the right to complain about overstaffing at off-peak times.
(Not that there isn't a host of other things to complain about when it comes to TSA.)
A TSO with nothing to do, however, becomes a poster child for "Thousands Standing Around". It becomes a convenient image for those who already dislike the TSA to put forward as evidence against them, when it's really just the ebb and flow of normal work cycles.
So, if y'all want to criticize the TSA for long waits at peak times, y'all have to give up the right to complain about overstaffing at off-peak times.
(Not that there isn't a host of other things to complain about when it comes to TSA.)
Feb 19, 2016, 3:37 pm
#21
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Nonsense -- if you're a contractor being paid by the government on a Cost Plus basis, then you hire as many employees as the government will pay you for, regardless of whether or not those employees are needed....
Feb 19, 2016, 3:46 pm
#22
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Feb 19, 2016, 4:40 pm
#23
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,657
And it all depends on what you mean by "need". If having people standing around at off-peak hours means that you don't lose sales during peak hours, and those extra sales more than pay for the employee's salary, then you don't mind them standing around at off-peak times.
Feb 20, 2016, 6:30 pm
#25
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Denver CO
Programs: HHonors Gold, National Emerald Club, no airline affinity status
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You are correct, the 3 checkpoints are not 24 hour operations. Two of the three are closed by 9 PM and the remaining one is staffed for airport personnel that need to come and go. When they closed the others and let the screening workforce leave at the end of the shift, there was no consideration for changes that were being made due to the weather, and existing passengers being stranded and incoming flights to take them out and cancelled flights. They would have had to hold the workforce over and authorize overtime to do that. They did not do that and it was a mess. A manager got let go for that decision.
Last edited by HawaiiTrvlr; Feb 21, 2016 at 3:51 pm
Feb 21, 2016, 11:40 am
#28
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ver the last couple of weeks.