Atlanta mayor to investigate why more than 150 TSA agents called out of work at Atlanta airport

January 23, 2025 at 8:29 pm EST

Holiday travelers navigate Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson December 20, 2019 Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport : Travelers make their way through the security check point on Friday, Dec. 20, 2019 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The Transportation Security Administration will screen some 42 million passengers at airport security checkpoints nationwide over the holiday travel season that began Dec. 19 and runs through Jan. 5. The forecast for crowds going through airports during that period is up 3.9 percent from a year ago and averages 2.6 million passengers a day. Travelers should allow extra time to get through security screening and ensure that they donât bring prohibited liquids, weapons or other restricted items through checkpoints. The busiest days are expected to be Friday Dec. 20, Saturday Dec. 21, Friday Dec. 27 and Thursday Dec. 26. The least busy days are expected to be Christmas Eve, New Yearâs Eve and Christmas Day. The busiest day on record nationally for the Transportation Security Administration was Dec. 1 this year, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when TSA screened more than 2.8 million travelers. JOHN SPINK/JSPINK@AJC.COM (JOHN SPINK / AJC)

January 23, 2025 at 8:29 pm EST

ATLANTA, GA — Hartsfield-Jackson Airport resumes normal operations after the delays and cancellations related to winter weather.

However, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is taking aim at the TSA after major security delays Wednesday morning.

Because of the wintry conditions, many TSA workers called out of work because they either couldn’t get in to work or had to take care of their children who were home from school.

Dickens tells WSB Radio, “150 individuals decided not to show up for work yesterday morning, which meant that, Atlanta airport only had 23 gates out of 57″ open.

The lower north checkpoint was closed for hours, while the rest of the checkpoints all reached waits of more than an hour at points.

Dickens says he wrote a letter to the federal government last month hoping to find a solution to what he calls frequent TSA callouts.