Cause of Federal Retards like this...
Baggage screener asleep on the job
Monday, January 6, 2003 Posted: 7:54 AM EST (1254 GMT)
Twenty-three incoming flights were delayed after a baggage screener was discovered napping.
SEATAC, Washington (AP) -- Two separate incidents at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport -- a baggage screener found sleeping on the job and a bomb threat -- sparked long delays for post-holiday travelers.
Airport business began to return to normal by midnight Sunday, officials said.
In the first incident Sunday morning, a screener was discovered asleep at his post and security personnel checked the concourses, some with explosive-sniffing dogs, said Bob Blunk, Transportation Security Administration director for the airport.
"There's no indication anything happened. It's just that somebody fell asleep," airport spokesman Bob Parker said.
The screener, discovered napping at about 6 a.m., apparently was asleep for eight to 30 minutes, Parker said. The concourses were reopened at about 8:10 a.m.
The screener was stationed at the exit from one of the stations on the underground train system linking the terminals.
Twenty-three incoming flights were delayed, Parker said.
Then Sunday night, a caller began making bomb threats.
"We had a few bomb threats from an individual. They were more specific than most threats," airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Mohon said shortly before midnight.
The person began calling at 9:40 p.m., she said. Security officials swept the terminals but found nothing amiss. Planes took off and landed during the sweep, but passengers were kept aboard arriving planes until the search ended.
Mohon said she did not expect the scare to affect flights or other airport operations Monday.
The airport averages about 80,000 passengers a day during the Christmas-New Year's holidays, Parker said, and the delays caused everything from resignation to frustration among passengers as they were herded back through security checkpoints.
"They need to streamline the security procedure," said Tim Goldstein. "I hope this never happens again."
Gene Matt, who was seeing his daughter off to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, said he got trapped in a crowd and could not move.
"The polite folks got stuck," he said.
Airport workers with megaphones directed passengers to various lines, some trying to mollify the anxious crowd with humor. "Please don't kill me in the rush," said one worker. "I'm only a small one."
Terry Sinclair, who was seeing his daughter off to Boston and travels a lot himself, shrugged off complaints about the delay.
"It's one of the better organized airports," he said. "We in Seattle don't realize how good we have it."
