Atlanta Airport Threatens to Dump the TSA
by Daniel McCarthy /As security lines and wait times get longer, the general manager of the busiest airports in the world is challenging the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to do a better job—or face a phasing out.
In a letter published online, the general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Miguel Southwell criticized the TSA, saying that staffing shortages are causing “unacceptable” wait times at TSA checkpoints.
“Several times throughout the day from May to October 2015, wait times exceeding 35 minutes were not uncommon,” he wrote. “This morning as I write this letter wait times up to 52 minutes were experienced between 6:00 am and 6:30 am. This is unacceptable as reflected in the customer service surveys of our hub carrier Delta Air Lines.”
With a busy summer expected at Hartsfield-Jackson and “no staffing plans to service this mammoth growth in demand,” Southwell wrote, the airport is exploring privatizing the passenger and screening process at the airport.
The TSA allows some privatization through its Screening Partnership Program, which contracts security screening services at commercial airports to some qualified private companies.
According to the letter, if the airport doesn’t see a “dramatic shift in the staffing allowances in the next 60 days,” it will turn to the private sector.
Pic: Hunter Desportes