Post-eclipse screening at PDX & CHS
 

Interesting to note that reports from PDX and CHS says that post-eclipse crowds were screened very quickly. Does that mean that standard screening was done away with to accommodate the crowds? If so, why?


and

They probably brought out the dogs to sniff people which allowed everyone PRE-style screening.

PDX says normal throughput is 250-400 but they managed 900.

My question is: if they could manage 900 on Monday, why isn't 'normal' much higher than 250-400?

Surely that wasn't all additional staffing and opening never-used lanes. Did they abandon quotas (number of people frisked, number of items confiscated, number of bags rifled) for one day?

Someplace I asked the same thing but never got a response. I would think the airports themselves and TSA would be bragging if the dogs were used to speed things along. It is certainly most unlike TSA not to take advantage of an opportunity to do so.

30 minute wait is "very quickly"? That doesn't sound any different than normal screening, if the checkpoint is staffed for a typical throughput of up to 400 with little wait expected.

Whenever I see this kind of story (busier with more people) I get curious.

1. There are a fixed number of airplanes flying for the majors. They don't role out "spares" and create extra flights on Xmas or Mother's Day and certainly not on "going home from eclipse" Monday.

2. The flights are normally pretty full. (I won't give an exact number because I don't want to start a debate on the exact number, but I think that "pretty full" matches my experience.) So where are all these extra people going? To sit in the airport and wait for Wednesday flights? In other words, how much busier be on "leaving the eclipse Tuesday afternoon" than any are on most "business people going home on Friday 100% full afternoon"?

So when they say "normal throughput is 250/hr" do they mean that is the maximum speed on busy Friday? Or do they average in the 100/hr at 6am on Saturday with the 900/hr at 4pm on Friday?

My guess. . .

On most days everyone is flying having completed different things at different times. They get to the airport one-two hours early spaced approximately as the flights are spaced.

On totality day, the event ended at a very specific time for everyone. When it was over there was not a lot to watch or a lot to do except get home. Many just headed to the airport. If true, I suspect the later lines were lighter than normal.

So, instead of the 250-400 they would have had, they had 900. I was at BNA watching the people come in for totality in Nashville. I was curious as to the people that would travel in for an eclipse. I noticed they were mostly young, childless, and carrying only a backpack, the type of people that may screen more quickly.

Still +500 is interesting. If they can do it at all, why not always do it?

I think you missed at least PART of my point. They don't say whether 900/hr is more or less than on EVERY Friday afternoon. I don't think that they were talking about "average maximum throughput" - I think they were talking about "average per hour, including the hours when there are only 100 people who even want to be processed."

Actually, the major airlines do keep a handful of spare aircraft at their hubs to protect their schedules in case of maintenance issues or other irregular operations.

It is not unusual for airlines to temporarily increase capacity, by adding extra sections or upgauging equipment, for major events such as the Superbowl and political conventions.

The simple carry on gear may be the reason. Or maybe the people were more prepared and more willing to follow the procedure rather than tweak the screeners on how they should do their jobs.

As for speed, it's easy to go faster, not sustainable long term though. Bad practice to raise the limit based on a one off.

(bolding mine)

Why not?

Same reason more lanes are opened during only peak periods. Cost benefit analysis. Lines are part of life, no one wants to be the one stuck & not moving, but there will always be someone waiting while another is being waited for.

We don't know if PDX added more personnel, opened more checkpoints, or lowered the quotas on gropes and bag checks, so we don't really know why they were able to move many more people than usual without taking any short-cuts.

Of if they did NONE of those things and moved the exact same number as they move every single Friday afternoon. (I am not saying that is the case - I am simply pointing out that the statistics are totally unclear - and, unlike Superbowl, I see no evidence that the airlines had any more capacity than any other weekday afternoon - this wasn't like a hurricane warning where people might have flooded the airport in larger numbers because they were willing to sleep on the floor for 2 days - these were people with reservations for regular flights).

So it seems we're in agreement, no one has any hard data if there were any changes. So no reason to assume partisan data points.

Moderator's Action
 

Posts discussing access to the airside area of Houston Hobby airport by travelers stranded by Hurricane Harvey in order to get food and drinks were moved to a new thread:
Please try to stay on topic (FT Rule 5).

Thank you for understanding,

TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator