Long lines at airport greet summer travelers

If you're catching a flight this summer, allow yourself some extra time.

Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport were expecting huge crowds this week as the summer travel season kicked into high gear, but they weren't counting on weather problems that contributed to unusually long security lines Wednesday morning.

By 4.30 p.m., the lines at the security checkpoint had eased to about 25 minutes, said Hershel Grangent, spokesman for the airport. That kind of delay is expected during the summer months when travel picks up, Grangent said.

This morning, it was a lot more hectic.

At 8 a.m., the airport reported wait times of an hour at the main security checkpoint and 30 to 40 minutes at the "T-gate" security area.

The line at the main checkpoint snaked through the South Terminal baggage carrousels to the MARTA station at the end of the terminal, said Hershel Grangent, spokesman for the airport.

At 8:30, the line had grown to the point it stretched well outside the terminal.

Numerous regular flyers, as well as at least one Delta Air Lines customer service representative, said they had never seen the line so long.

Grangent said the long lines could be attributed to increased summer volume at the world's busiest airport and overnight storms elsewhere that delayed flights bound for airports in the Northeast.

He said air traffic controllers in the Northeast ordered a "ground stoppage."

"Basically, all outgoing flights to the Northeast were halted for a time," Grangent said. By 8:30 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration reported no delays on flights bound for the Northeast.

The crush of travelers had eased by late morning, with wait times of less than 10 minutes reported at both security checkpoints.

Airport officials had estimated that 370,000 passengers per day would pass through Hartsfield this week. About 250,000 passengers use the airport on an average day.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution