U-turn on capital airport screeners By Tony Bizjak -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Wednesday, June 11, 2003 In an abrupt about-face, federal officials say they now plan to add 22 security checkpoint screeners at Sacramento International Airport, dropping their disputed month-old plan to lay off 112 screeners. Airport officials, who were set to fight the cuts, say they are delighted that the Transportation Security Administration changed its mind. "We were dismayed by the announced cuts, so this is good news," said Frances Sherertz, assistant director of county airports. The new screeners give Sacramento a total of 360, TSA officials said. The federal agency was established by Congress to help provide safer air travel following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Before the attacks, private security firms, under contract to the airlines, hired minimum-wage workers with little training to screen passengers. Within 14 months, the TSA hired 30,000 screeners at jobs paying $23,600 to $35,400 a year. Workers were required to be U.S. citizens, have a high school diploma and undergo more than 100 hours of training. In May, however, Congress set budget constraints that called for the elimination of 6,000 screeners. About 3,000 positions were cut from airports nationwide, 17 by attrition from Sacramento International. Federal officials say they still plan to cut an additional 3,000 screeners nationwide by Sept. 30. Los Angeles International Airport is scheduled to lose 46 of its 2,451 screeners. San Francisco International Airport is exempt because its screeners were hired under a test program. In Sacramento, airport officials have argued that losing screeners would increase passengers' wait in lines that are often too long at Terminal A, the portal for popular Southwest Airlines. About 10,000 passengers pass through all the airport's security checkpoints daily, officials said. The average wait, from the moment a passenger gets in the back of the line until that passenger is free to go to his or her gate, is slightly more than five minutes, not considered bad. But an airport review showed that on some days that average jumps to 10 minutes, and at a peak moment on a busy Friday the wait hit a high of 35 minutes. That didn't include the time passengers spent in line at the airline ticketing and bag check counter. "Thirty-five minutes, you're pretty unhappy, you're pretty steamed," Sherertz said. "The customer service standard we are shooting for is nothing in excess of 10 minutes, not (just) an average of 10 minutes." Airport officials said they are asking federal officials to be more flexible by assigning more screeners during peak hours, possibly on part-time shifts. A security official said Tuesday that the answer may be to add more metal detectors to the six already in place. He said that during peak times, such as the morning commute, it is not unusual for passengers to miss their flights -- typically people who don't arrive the recommended two hours early. The airport study, conducted hourly during 16 days in May, showed that lines to and through the security checks and metal detectors generally are short at Terminal B, averaging about two minutes. But wait times in that terminal at times exceeded 10 minutes during peak travel hours at 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sacramento airport officials took their May measurements to dispute -- at least for Terminal A -- earlier federal estimates that wait times at Sacramento International averaged just two minutes. Federal spokesman Nico Melendez said federal estimates are based on how long people wait from the moment they show their ticket to a security agent to the moment they are cleared from the security area. Airport officials countered that passengers often wait in lines for many minutes before they get to the ticket checker. At Terminal A, that line can often extend down the escalator and into the baggage area. Officials said that the $58 million terminal, although it is only 5 years old, was not designed to handle that kind of congestion and probably will have to be remodeled at some point. In May, when federal officials announced the plan to lay off airport screeners, they said they would cut 112 of Sacramento's 355 screeners. Since then, attrition has reduced the work force to 338. On Friday, in a brief e-mail to the airport, federal security officials said they had reconsidered and now plan to hire 22 more screeners for Sacramento -- for a total of 360. Federal spokesman Melendez said the original cuts were done in a hurry and based on generic estimates. Since then, officials have reanalyzed all airports, and talked with officials at many of them, to better understand each airport's needs. Melendez said the administration is committed to cutting 6,000 screeners nationwide. He said that will not compromise airport security, because all passengers must still pass through security checkpoints. Passenger Adam Ray, standing in a short line Tuesday afternoon in Sacramento's Terminal A, said he came early and doesn't mind waiting. "Doesn't bother me one bit," he said. "Patience is a virtue. 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