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When Carmen Ortiz arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) this morning as recommended two hours before departure, the line to get through security stretched the length of the Barbara Jordan Terminal, outside the building, and back again of the terminal.
“I’ve never had to wait in a security line at the airport,” Ortiz said. “Everyone showed up at the airport shocked.”
Before the sun even came up, the wait for TSA clearance had stretched to more than 90 minutes, more than triple what the Transportation Security Administration considers “normal.”
Although TSA says all lanes were open, including three new lanes added late last year, lanes were crammed with more than 8,252 passengers before 8 a.m., about 1,600 more than normal.
TSA says it recently hired additional staff from other airports to help with ABIA, but the agency is still struggling to hire enough staff in Austin, even with hiring bonuses of up to $2,000.
A Delta Air Lines flight departs from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
Monday morning – already one of the busiest times at the airport – was made even busier today by a rush of people traveling home from three major sporting events over the weekend: the Texas Relays track and field competition at UT Austin, the NASCAR race at Circuit of the Americas and World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club.
The line was so long that Southwest Airlines had already started rebooking flights for some passengers who still had an hour before their flights could board. Ortiz postponed her departure until later in the morning.
“A lot of people from outside were asking, ‘Is this normal? Is the airport like this every time?'” she said on the phone while waiting for her rebooked flight.
It’s not normal, but this type of early morning mess is becoming more common with ABIA. Airlines are adding flights to and from Austin faster than any other mid-size airport in the United States, officials said. This includes KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ maiden flight this afternoon from Austin to Amsterdam.
A $4 billion airport expansion, launched last year to respond to breakneck growth, will take years.
The clearest indication that these types of congestion will continue comes from airport officials themselves. They expect a record-breaking 20 million passengers this year in a facility built for 15 million.
These unprecedented crowds are already testing the airport’s existing infrastructure in new ways. People trying to drop off their rental cars this morning were in for a shocking surprise: the lanes leading to the airport car rental office were blocked by queues of abandoned rental cars.
On Monday morning, people left rental cars in the lanes leading to the airport’s car rental desk. Traveler Kelly Nagel said she took this photo around 6:30 a.m
“It was like an apocalypse,” said Jeff Gluck, a sportscaster visiting from Denver for the NASCAR race. “All the cars were empty on the street.”
As Gluck paused with his rental car, contemplating what to do, more people trying to return their vehicles came and pushed him inside.
According to airport officials, it all started when a rental car stopped on the curb and stopped returning the vehicles. Staff told customers they could catch their flights if they just left the keys in the car. This set off a chain reaction as more and more people, faced with the possibility of a missed flight, saw others abandon their rental cars.
“People honked,” said Gluck. “Nobody could move their cars, so I just left my car with everyone else and was like, ‘I just hope they check it in at some point.'”
Gluck said he barely made his flight home to Denver. When he landed, he received an email that his vehicle had been returned.
Passengers aren’t the only ones who feel constrained. Sometimes airlines are forced to cope with the undersized airport infrastructure.
With 282 flights scheduled, ABIA is warning airlines of a potential fuel shortage at the airport. Aircraft are therefore advised to “tank up” with aviation fuel, meaning that they should be loaded with more fuel than they normally would.
The airport can store fuel for between 1 and 3 days depending on occupancy. Officials said an airport of a similar size would have 5 to 7 days’ fuel supplies.
Part of the airport’s planned multibillion-dollar expansion is the construction of a new storage facility that could hold up to 6 million gallons of jet fuel. However, the plan met opposition from nearby residents who were concerned about sleeping less than 500 feet from the tank farm.
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city of Austin
This illustration of the jet fuel tank farm shows two 1.5 million gallon storage tanks, but the site will be built to accommodate up to four such tanks.
Vanessa Fuentes, a member of the Austin City Council, whose district the airport belongs to, is asking her fellow councilors to force airport staff to choose a new site for the tank farm. Airport officials said the location near McCall Lane is the only one that fits in with their long-term expansion plans.
As the airport struggles under the weight of Austin’s rapid economic growth, some travelers are still finding ways to navigate the crowds.
Kelly Nagel, a graduate student at Penn State University who is originally from Waco, was among those who had little choice this morning but to give up their rental cars.
However, Nagel says she was able to skip the “shocking” security line out front by using TSA PreCheck, which offers a separate security line for passengers undergoing fingerprint and background checks. TSA PreCheck typically costs $85 for five years. She was through in five minutes.
“We went through it and thought, ‘This is the best $85 we’ve ever spent,'” Nagel said. “In the end we were really lucky, but it was still confusing.”