Lines stretched into the parking garage from about 8:15 a.m. to noon at Seattle’s SeaTac airport. Officials said this was the highest volume of passengers the airport has seen since the pandemic. Over 28,000 travelers flooded into the airport in just 6 hours.
TSA said that every checkpoint was open to handle the huge influx of passengers. All security lines were merged into one queue. When travelers reached the terminal, they were redirected to individual checkpoints. Security took so long many travelers arrived early and still missed their flights
Travelers attempting to fly out of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Sunday had a 2.5-hour long wait at security. Many were unhappy as they missed flights. The spokesperson said 24 of 29 screening lanes were open, and the two that are closed were due to equipment malfunction. The other three are part of the international arrivals. Adding to the chaos were the six cruise ships docked in Seattle on Sunday. TSA officers told the Washington Post some 28,000 passengers passed through checkpoints between 6 a.m. and noon on Sunday.
Nationally, airports have been awful since pandemic restrictions on travel began to lift. Europe has also had similar issues. London’s Heathrow Airport asked airlines to suspend ticket sales out of the airport. British Airways put a two-week pause on selling short-distance flights out of Heathrow in August.
The big airports like Orlando and New York have seen the most delays due to a lack of qualified air traffic controllers and a rise in space launches and private flights. Major airlines in the U.S. were forced to suspend and cancel flights all summer due to a shortage of pilots, ground crew and flight attendants.
