Long lines for airport security screening stretched through the domestic terminal and snaked through baggage claim at Hartsfield-Jackson International on Monday.
Wait times were more than an hour long during a busy period of the morning, according to the Atlanta airport’s website.
The airport is now advising travelers to get to the terminal three hours before their flight.
The lines early Monday morning stretched from the main security checkpoint through the atrium, around the corner, winding back and forth between baggage claim carousels, then down the hallway of the domestic terminal.
The Transportation Security Administration last week closed the Terminal South security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson for a three-week stretch, as it redesigns two of the lanes to test a system that is aimed at speeding screening.
But in the meantime, the tens of thousands of travelers that fly out of Hartsfield-Jackson every day are being added to the already-congested main checkpoint and the Terminal North checkpoint in the domestic terminal.
Airport officials have raised concerns about long security screening lines, which have stretched into baggage claim during busy periods for the past year.
Monday mornings are one of the busiest periods at the world’s busiest airport, with business travelers leaving for weekly trips adding onto the thousands of other passengers.
TSA officials have said workers who staffed the closed checkpoint are now helping to staff the main checkpoint, so lines are long but will move more quickly.
New airport security lane design will test automation to move bins, speed processing
With extremely long airport security lines frustrating travelers, could an automated system to move bins help to speed screening and shorten wait times at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport?
That’s what Transportation Security Administration and Delta Air Lines officials plan to test in a few weeks when they unveil two newly-designed security lanes that will feature RFID (radio frequency identification) technology.
The three-week closure of the South security checkpoint during the construction has generated lines snaking through the domestic terminal atrium and baggage claim. Wait times were more than an hour long during busy periods Monday morning.
Airport officials hope the two new lanes to open May 24 at the South security checkpoint will bring some promiseof a better system that can ease bottlenecks in the security screening process.
One choke-point occurs when travelers stop up the line while sorting through their pockets or countless items in their suitcase to pull out liquids or laptops or other items.
To address that issue, the two newly designed lanes will each have five stations for five different passengers to load bins at the same time — eliminating the need to wait for a passenger in front of you to finish loading a bin.
After loading a bin, the passenger would push it directly onto an automated conveyor system that shuttles the bin to the X-ray machine. The passenger then walks through screening.
“By having automation at the checkpoint, you should have some time savings,” said TSA spokesman Mark Howell. The new design is modeled after systems used at London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol airports.
If a suspicious item turns up during X-ray screening, the bin is automatically routed to a separate conveyor via an RFID tag on the bin. A TSA officer would then check the items in the bin.
Once retrieving belongings from their bins, passengers drop the empty bins onto a lower-level conveyor system that bring the bins back to the beginning of the lane. The system, similar to a bowling ball return, eliminates the need for TSA agents to manually carry bins from the end of the lane to the front of the lane.
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