ethernal

This isn't exactly unusual for ATL on a Monday morning. Not sure how much of it is 'hit the fan" versus par for the course.

That said, if there are excessive delays, my guess is that this is by design. Per the TSA themselves, sick-out rates are only 3-4 percentage points above where they usually are. While at some small airports this may mean closing down the one lane entrance to a small concourse, at Atlanta it just means shutting down an extra lane or two - no checkpoints are closed.

A 3-5% capacity reduction will not break the system.

I assume they are simply not doing their usual things on a Monday AM (e.g., all-passenger pre-check procedure at the North gates, not using millimeter wave scanners in most lanes, etc). This would create a huge backlog even if staffing levels are roughly the same.

FlyBitcoin

So TSA overreacts by opening fewer lines even in Pre-Check (according to the OP who was at ATL this AM)?

MountainGuy

Flew out of ATL this morning on 7:35am flight, can confirm the lines were the longest I've ever seen for PreCheck and Clear (generally at least once a month I fly Monday morning first flight out). I checked bag at Sky Priority at 6ish, and was able to get through PreCheck and to my gate in terminal C by 7.

Long lines but they moved. I did hear many people confused and think that the Clear line was PreCheck, unsure if some people waited in line to only find out they were in the wrong one.

fotographer

thanks everyone for the heads up... I am leaving with my daughter Wednesday mid day, so I hope that helps keeps the line short(yeah right)

WillSkiGT

Actually, sick-out rates were ~4.3%, which is lower than the ~6.4% at this point last year. So it's not that either.

jamesinclair

TSA is giving out national numbers. Its is most likely that callout rates are higher in expensive markets than in cheaper markets because money is tighter.

So 7.6% nationally could mean 10% in Atlanta, 4% in Kansas City, and 3% in Omaha. I'd wager politics might play into it to. If you are personally opposed to the shutdown, you may be less likely to work than someone who believe the shutdown is a good thing.

Rabidstoat

I just went through security but don't have much to report. I got in the only open Precheck line in the domestic terminal and rumor was it was over an hour, same as the normal lines. But they were pulling precheck people in first class or active military to a non precheck line marked premium. All told I went through in 20 minutes. The premium line might be a normal thing, I always do precheck so I don't have to unpack.

Though it reminds me how nice precheck is. I had to bin my shoes, jacket, 2 laptops, kindle, and CPAP. Pain in the ..., but I'm still super efficient from my days before precheck.

davetravels

I find it hard to believe that virtually anyone could be for the shutdown if they're not receiving a paycheck, regardless of their opinion on the wall.

Rabidstoat

Updated HUMINT from the ground: I get widely diverging reports on Precheck length of time, but not from anyone who's been through it. And I also heard from a couple who went through normal security in 40 minutes on the Southwest side. The other half of their party went through on the Delta side and were still in line after 50 minutes.

Also, not sure how accurate it is, but here is the website I use to check security line waits: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport | Official Website

UPDATE WITH NEW INFO: Heard some Precheck times, people were being told 60-90 minutes but one guy went through this morning in 40 minutes around 8am. General advice is to try to get on the Southwest side of the terminal if you can, Delta side is more packed. The main checkpoints, as per usual, are typically longer wait than the north/south ends. Also if it looks really dire, international lines at precheck have been much shorter (though they might try shifting staff around in the future).

steved5480

1230pm Monday

@omarJimenezCNN: So I’m at @ATLairport and this may be the longest security line I have ever seen. Even growing up here, and even for a Monday morning. One passenger told me he’d been waiting over an hour and still had about 30 minutes to go.

FlyBitcoin

Exactly. They could be averaging no-show rates among each airport to lessen the impact of a higher sick rate at a huge airport. Someone who wants politicians to be able to save face will make the numbers look as "normal" as possible. Not sure I even trust those national numbers.

If lines are closed which normally are open on these dates and times then that is your best statistic. National numbers mean nothing when you are looking for an open line in one city on one day. Reports from the ground say it all.

Imagine how Monday after the Super Bowl will look at this rate.

spongenotbob

wetrat0

Actually, a 3-5% capacity reduction can completely break the system. In any standard queueing model, wait times do not increase linearly in utilization. In a very basic queueing model with a single server, waiting time is proportional to 1/(1-utilization), where utilization is arrival rate divided by service rate. A small reduction in service rate can therefore lead to a huge increase in waiting time. A system that goes from 90% to 92% utilized will therefore see waiting times increase roughly 25%. Not bad, but going to 94% would result in waiting times increasing roughly 66%. Going to 96% would result in the waiting time increasing by 150%.

Obviously TSA screening is a lot more complicated than an M/M/1 queue, but the same principles apply. Slightly reducing capacity drives up utilization; increasing utilization increases waiting time only slightly at first, but eventually it hits the fan, so to speak.

LegalTender

People may walk away if confronted with 2-hour security waits. Not everyone can stand that long. Meetings, conferences and symposiums may be sidelined.

Are airlines prepared to waive change fees if this turns pandemic?

The Situation

Keep in mind that there may be some sabotage as well. If employees are unhappy, even if they have sufficient staff, they may intentionally slow down the works to make things worse than they could be, as they have a couple times in the past, to prove how important they are.