Record crowds and heightened security could mean extra-long lines for screening and other services at the Atlanta airport as the Thanksgiving travel period starts this weekend.
Security lines have already been growing lately, with peak period wait times of more than 30 minutes in recent weeks. A surge in holiday passenger numbers, coupled with tighter security and screening, is expected to further swell lines in the coming week.
Hartsfield-Jackson International recommends travelers arrive at the airport 2.5 hours before departure time, including time to check in, get through security and navigate the airport. That’s more than the 1.5 to 2 hours travelers are often advised to allow.
The number of travelers from Atlanta is up as much as 8 to 10 percent this year, according to the airport, which expects to break through the 100 million passenger mark for 2015.
As recently as 2013, the Transportation Security Administration was screening about 60,000 passengers a day through Hartsfield-Jackson security checkpoints during the Thanksgiving holiday period. TSA expects as many as 88,000 on the Sunday after Thanksgiving this year.
“It’s going to be all hands on deck,” TSA spokesman Mark Howell said, adding that the agency plans to bring in help from other airports. But that doesn’t necessarily mean all lanes will be open.
TSA will open “all lanes that we have the personnel for,” Howell said. “We’ll have a bunch of lanes open. I can’t say if we’re going to have every single one of them open. It will shift by hour.”
Travelers should also be prepared to see a more visible display of law enforcement, including police who may be armed with long guns and bomb-detecting dogs.
Earlier this year the TSA started doing more meticulous screening and inspections after reports of poor detection rates. It has also decreased its expedited screening program.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines issued an advisory for holiday travel from Atlanta, warning of long security lines and advising passengers arrive at least 2 hours before a domestic flight and at least 3 hours before an international flight.
“It’s like getting on the road in rush hour on I-85 — you might want to allow a little extra time,” said Brad Hawkins, a spokesman for Southwest Airlines, the No. 2 carrier behind Delta in Atlanta. It also advises arriving 2 hours before the flight time.
The busiest days at Hartsfield-Jackson are expected to be the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the Wednesday before.
Holidays aside, airport officials are considering pushing for more TSA staffing to alleviate long security lines.
During slower periods of the year, most passengers have wait times of under 10 minutes. But TSA statistics for September show that the wait time for regular passengers was longer more than 25 percent of the time, and longer than 20 minutes nearly 3 percent of the time.
Meanwhile, the union representing TSA officers plans an informational picket at Hartsfield-Jackson on Saturday to “demand better workplace rights and fair benefits” in a union contract.
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