Weatherboy

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3365400

Looks like in addition to employees evacuating the Houston area, over a hundred TSA'ers didn't show at work today, resulting in chaos and confusion at IAH...and long lines.

CNN reports that thousands of people are missing their flights due to the lengthy security mishaps at IAH. What a shame that empty flights are leaving while thousands are trying to escape the storm. (It's also a shame CO fails to have a comprehensive plan in place for a multi-day IAH shutdown.)

bocastephen

I can't say that TSA issues are CO's fault. I doubt there is much love lost between CO (and any airline for that matter) and the TSA.

I believe TSA administration should be held accountable for this fiasco. I can't help but sympathize with the TSA workers for wanting to evacuate themselves and their families - but the responsibility for staffing those checkpoints and ensuring the public is able to fly is upto to the TSA and they should have had their own contingency plan in place to make sure the checkpoints were fully staffed to handle the increased pax volume.

I can't help but assume CO management blasted the IAH FSD today over this, but I doubt there was anything they could do about it.

ssullivan

You're making a huge assumption there that's not really fair. First, the TSA problem is completely beyond CO's control. Second, CO has shut down the IAH hub for more than 24 hours due to weather once before in the last five years. In June 2001 in the aftermath of Allison when the city was flooded CO suspended all IAH ops for a full day. The airline has experience in dealing with these issues at IAH and I'm sure there is a plan in place. My experience so far in dealing with CO trying to get rescheduled back to Houston after the storm has passed (I was originally supposed to be flying home tomorrow afternoon) has been extremely positive and they have gone out of their way to assist me. I'm sure many othe rpassengers have had similar positive experiences. Yes it's a bad situation but there is a plan in place.

AKelley728

CO just announced they are flying in more TSA personnel to help the crush. Looks like they have some sort of plan...

Continental Airlines Prepares for Hurricane Rita at Its Houston Hub
HOUSTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is preparing for Hurricane Rita by continuing to evacuate travelers from Houston. The airline is making operational decisions with the highest priority placed on the safety of its customers and employees.

Continental expects to be able to operate only a reduced Houston schedule on Friday morning, and will cease flight operations at Houston at noon. All Continental Airlines flights from Houston on Friday afternoon and Saturday are being cancelled. All Continental Express flights from Houston on Friday and Saturday are being cancelled. Flights are expected to resume Sunday morning. Throughout the weekend, all flights not involving Houston should operate normally. The best way to check the status of a particular flight is to visit continental.com .

"We are committed to the safety of our customers and employees," said Larry Kellner, chairman and CEO. "We are doing our best to evacuate as many people as we can until we are forced to suspend operations at noon tomorrow."

Supplementary Staff Fly to Houston

To augment staffing at the Houston hub, Continental has flown into Houston hundreds of employee volunteers and TSA security screeners from Cleveland, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York/Newark and San Antonio. These personnel supplement existing staff at the airport and replace workers who were subject to mandatory evacuation orders. The supplementary staff have been brought to the Houston airport with Continental's commitment to fly them home before the hurricane hits.

Travel Advice: Check in at Continental.com and Carry-on Bags Only

Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport is extremely busy with all flights sold out. Only ticketed passengers should go to the airport. Passengers should bring only carry-on baggage to help expedite check-in and security screening. Passengers should check in at continental.com and print their boarding passes prior to leaving for the airport.

Continental strongly recommends against passengers flying to Houston to make onward connecting flights. Due to the approach of Hurricane Rita, connecting itineraries may not function as scheduled, risking passenger misconnections and possible stranding in Houston. Only passengers who need to travel to Houston itself should board flights destined for Houston.

Operations

Weather conditions in Houston are currently permitting safe operations, and so far today Continental has had no cancellations. Continental Express has implemented cancellations in order to lend resources to the Continental Airlines operation at IAH.

Combined Continental Airlines and Continental Express cancellations are expected to total 1,089 on Friday and 828 on Saturday.

Plans are in place to resume service as soon as possible after the hurricane. As was the case with Hurricane Katrina, Continental will be heavily involved in helping the afflicted area get back on its feet.

SOURCE Continental Airlines
09/22/2005

Renard

Word is also that a lot of CO employees had also evacuated leaving some staffing shortages at IAH. I am sure many employees had to make the regrettable choice of evacuating their families and elderly parents etc.

I seem to remember hearing that the TSA shortage in houston was more critical at Hobby..and that makes sense as Hobby is much closer to the mandatory evacuation zones in Clear Lake, LaPorte and all of Galveston County. I am sure that is responsible for a good number of the TSA no-shows etc at Hobby.

aeroman62

We flew LGW/IAH/SFO yesterdayon CO5 and CO307 - two hours out the flight attendants told us about the TSA and US Customs staff shortages due to staff not coming to work, however we left the plane at 4:37pm, and were through it all, including security in terminal E (which had no lines) and at outr connecting gate by 5:15pm, including collecing luggage and rechecking it.

The airport was thinly staffed, and catering on the SFO flight, which was suppose to be dinner in F, was the snack tray, however considering what this airline is/was facing with Rita, I found the entire thing remarkably well managed, and appreciate the airport employees from CO and the TSA that did come to work.

On a side note, at 5pm yesterday, IAH seemed actually kind of dead, most of the shops and restaurants were closed, our flight to SFO actually left with empty seats in Y and F. The gridlock on I-45, 59, etc. was obvious as we landed and took off.

ProudEdmontonian

On my flight to TPA both the Gate Agent and the Redcoat were from CLE. Other than getting trumped for U/G at the last moment by a Plat Companion , having to change gates 3X and being delayed 1:15 it wasn't all that bad and it was professionally handled in IAH. As we went from gate to new gate, it was interesting to see 'hordes' of CO personnel arriving on the inbounds with a rather large group of baggage handlers from EWR (15 or so) in one instance. ^

SDF_Traveler

Last I checked the TSA falls under the Department of Homeland security and are considered essential personnel. They're civil service employees and have a duty to the public, just as the IAH police (DPS), IAH Fire & Rescue & US Customs & Immigrations officers at IAH. From what I've read, the DHS/TSA is considering these "unexcused" absenses, FWIW.

Just out of curiosity, anyone know how many other civil service employees at IAH pulled no-shows? What if IAH Fire & Rescue employees decided to no-show? When you're in essential civil service, you have a responsibility to the public - when you take that job on, you know it. I would expect this of the old security workforce, but not the "professional" TSA civil servants working under the DHS. I can only sympathize to a degree. With operations at IAH shutting down this morning before conditions get bad, I believe they would still have time to evacuate like other civil service employees at IAH.

Fortunately they've brought TSA crew in from as far as Cleveland with promises to fly them back home prior to the storm & IAH shutdown.

Like you, I believe the TSA administration, including Certoff and company, should be held responsible --- sad thing is they never will be held "responsible". Heck, they'll probably be given an award. Given the number of people evacuating Houston by air and the fact aircraft have gone out empty as a result is sad.

FWIW, I have a neighbor who flew out of HOU (Hobby) yesterday where the TSA also pulled a large no-show -- she missed her flight thanks to the TSA. However, once behind security she was accomodated on another flight, Her new flight went out with a 30% load, yet it technically oversold with pax who couldn't get through the checkpoint. WN wouldn't hold the flight either as they needed to keep their schedule. She finally made it home late evening yesterday after bouncing around the midwest on WN.

Regards,

SDF_Traveler

P.S. I am glad to see CO is not allowing connections at IAH and is only allowing pax to fly to IAH if it is their final destination. However, once IAH does close down, it would be wise if CO added extra flights via CLE on some of their heavy routes where customers would normally xfer in IAH. Another thing they could do to keep things flowing is establishing some extra flights via NW and DL hubs to get pax where they are going. It doesn't have to be anything major either, just a few extra flights and/or the upgauging of equipment.

Anyone know if they're doing this?

bocastephen

If they are an essential service and their absences were unexcused, then it's up to DHS and its HR group to take the necessary action against those employees. I don't condone what they did...in a way I understand it, but truth be told, their actions could have placed thousands of other people at risk. When they signed their employment contracts, if they were told they were an essential service and expected to report to work regardless of prevailing emergency conditions, and failed to do so, then whatever punitive policy exists at DHS should be enforced against them.

I was just stating in my original post that what happened at IAH was no really CO's fault, and I am sure they blasted the IAH FSD pretty good over it. What happens next is between the missing screeners and DHS management (now there is oxymoron).

bnrdad

Who said they don't? I haven't seen any other criticism in the media or otherwise that CO is doing something wrong.

Or this just a personal bias because your travel plans were "inconvenienced? Gee, sorry. At least your house, business, property and family aren't under threat of destruction.

CO could have the most comprehensive shutdown plan ever created, but once it's employees, along with other airport support staff, place the safety of themelves and their families lives before the needs of a corporation, and begin to leave town, then what would yourecommend CO do? Huh?

I was in IAH yesterday changing planes. The CO folks were doing a great job under the circumstances .

Sorry for your "inconvenience".

SDF_Traveler

I'm not the one you quoted or traveling with CO this weekend, but from what I've seen, I feel CO could of done a better job handling things earlier this week.

I'm sure the staff was doing a great job at the airport (IAH) given the circumstances.

As an example, when CO finally announced their re-accomodation policy, it only allowed re-booking in the same fare class (until the flight gets cancelled). For those on lower fare classes, this means they're likely SOL with respect to a routing change to avoid IAH.

The Hurricane has been in the Gulf for several days taking a track towards Texas. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize this would cause problems at IAH and likely a full stoppage of flight operations.

Instead, they should have allowed all passengers to rebook via other hubs, regardless of fare class. While only so much capacity exist, they should have been pro-active with it, IMHO. Knowing that IAH would likely encounter problems, they should also be pro-active by adding some additional flights via CLE for the weekend and upgauging equipment -- this would allow more capacity / seats for people to change to. Perhaps they will add capacity and extra flights -- they do for events such as the Kentucky Derby.

FWIW, SDF is an ERJ only station. During the Kentucky Derby, CO changes their schedule and operates 737-800/900s and 757-200 and -300 aircraft on their SDF-IAH and SDF-EWR routes. If they could do this to accomdate travelers to an event, I'm sure they could add capacity at CLE and make it easier for passengers to re-route.

Hopefully they'll do something such as the above for weekend operations.

Regards,

SDF_Traveler

P.S. On a somewhat related note, two years ago Continental saved a trip of mine during irregular operations. I was flying NW to JFK to meet an incoming passenger from LHR on BA. A large snowstorm hit the NYC area this weekend and snow was piling up on that Friday evening. NWA cancelled all flights from DTW to all NYC airports. CO had a delayed DTW-EWR flight which I was able to get a seat on - the original passenger load was about 30% until the NWA cancellations. Needless to say the flight went out PACKED and they were turning others away at the gate. It was a 737-300, but if they could have flown a 757-300 that evening, I can guarantee you it would have been full. EWR/LGA/JFK then closed for about 48 hours after I arrived on one of the last flights in to NYC. (The trip to JFK via public transport at midnight was an interesting one -- even the AirTrain was broken; it would start and then come to a fast halt, jolting everyone on-board; start again and repeat. Somewhere between the parking station and the EWR train station we then came to a halt and got stuck for 15 minutes until they could get it moving again)

ryerflyer

[QUOTE=SDF_Traveler]The Hurricane has been in the Gulf for several days taking a track towards Texas. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize this would cause problems at IAH and likely a full stoppage of flight operations.

Which makes one wonder why some people here waited until yesterday to call about rebooking options. Waiting for CO to tell you what the options are seems foolish in light of an impending disaster which you knew of "for several days". I don't wait for an airline to tell me what I'm going to do.

Sounds like it's all about the money/upgrades/mileage/segments, which I know is why most of us are on this forum, but it seems absurd considering the threat of a natural disater. People are worried about $350 when others will be losing their homes and going without paycheks for who knows how long.

Noone knows at this point what will happen to IAH, but if the rocket scientists on this board sat on their hands until yesterday to call about rebooking options, well...............

This was posted on another thread:
With mandatory evacuations up for the southern suburbs of Houston along the coast, I'd imagine this is impacting CO employees who live in the area. It's one thing to reroute aircraft and brace the airport for the impact of a catastrophic hurricane, but how do you staff an airport/airline if many employees are being asked to pack up and move inland?

Is CO making arrangements to re-accomodate its employees elsewhere to keep minimal services up/running at IAH during Rita?

And then that same individual complains about CO not having a plan. Like the earlier post said, if your employess are told by government officals to evacuate, then I guess they will! That's not rocket science either, is it? Sure, CO could have a better rebooking policy, but saying they don't have a comprehensive plan ( I'd like to see someone with a comprehensive, foolproof plan - on anything!) is overkill.

And maybe not waiting for four or five days after you know a hurricane is going to hit to rebook your flight would be a good idea next time. But that's just me.

As they say, "saftey first". I'll worry about my miles/segments/upgrades later.

If you have to pay a fare difference, maybe you could file a claim with FEMA!

magicno5

If I can add in my two cents, I flew through IAH yesterday and though that CO did a great job considering the severity of the hurricane. My connecting flight to FLL was a little delayed with boarding because one of the flight attendants was stuck in traffic and they got clearance to leave with a smaller crew. All the gate attendants were concerned and very helpful in the situation.

My biggest praise goes to CO for holding the plane for a little longer at the gate so that passengers who were stuck in the insane security lines could make their flight. Sure we could have left on time but I hope that if I am ever stuck in a huge security line in this kind of situation, that the airline would be as responsible as CO to realize that the best option is to wait for the passengers instead of stranding them at the airport. The important thing to remember is that all the CO employees were working very hard to make the best out of a bad situation.

In the end, kindness and thoughtfulness works out to be the best solution because my flight arrived in FLL right on-time. That's why I fly CO!!!

BigPoppaCO

I wouldn't show up for work if I made $7.50 an hour either

ND Sol

If you read my posts, you know will that I am not an apologist for the TSA. So you might be surprised that I would say that at IAH Term. B & C today, the TSA was not the holdup. Yes, I had to go through both B & C today and had to drive twice yesterday to IAH. In my view, any TSA screeners not to make it due to the traffic was a delay, but not a reason never to make it.

Sounds like many of you were connecting through IAH yesterday. Airside was not the problem (except that most of the food areas were closed and the ones that were open had long lines).

Landside was the problem. The holdup was the check-in. It was way out the door at B and C was just as bad. With that being the chokepoint, by the time one got to screening, the line was not very long.

However, TSA was certainly not cutting any slack and was enforcing all rules. My mother-in-law in a wheelchair was subjected to the full secondary. Planes took off without being full because passengers couldn't make it to the gate. Some people gave up and went back home. So following rules to the book in this type of situation may not be the safest approach.