Author: matthewjbuettner – Transportation-Security-Administration « WordPress.com Tag Feed
DENVER (CBS4) – Flooding in Missouri has prompted evacuations around St. Louis after record rainfall in the past several days. It’s part of a storm that has caused problems across the nation for holiday travel that included a mess at Denver International Airport overnight into Tuesday morning.
There were long lines at DIA in a record breaking period of holiday travel. Passengers flying out of the airport in the early morning hours Tuesday waited more than 90 minutes to get through security.
The Transportation Security Administration told CBS4 they need lead times to have adequate staff to get the passengers through security. They said they didn’t have enough lead time Tuesday morning which caused the backup because only one checkpoint was open.
“It’s a lot longer than we thought it would be, especially on a Tuesday. You’d think for Monday for business flights there might be more travel, but by Tuesday you would think it would have died down a little bit,” traveler Chris Zimmer said.
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Passengers flying in to DIA waited well over an hour or more for their bags.
Luggage piling up at DIA on Tuesday morning (credit: CBS)
“It’s ridiculous, because you know, it’s a simple task. Just unload the stuff, put it on the belt,” traveler Demetrius Flood said. “But yet they fail to have the people coming here. They know the planes are coming in at this time, so why can’t they have the people staffed and ready for you?”
Luggage piling up at DIA on Tuesday morning (credit: CBS)
DIA was expecting more than 162,000 passengers on Tuesday, which is about 20,000 more than usual. It’s recommended to get there three hours early for flights.