Crazy situation going on at MCO 11/10

[lockedoutlogic]

...never fly to Orlando during jersey week...bad ju ju even for Nikon

 

[Planogirl]

TSA shows how inept they are once again. I hope that everything has been sorted out now.

 

[HopperFan]

Here is the letter of explanation about last night ......... basically "how TSA lost total control" aka blame the passengers. It doesn't explain many of the inappropriate comments made by TSA employees to customers, nor why so many of them were taking breaks, eating etc while poor passengers were crammed UN-informed in the airport. I hope that no matter what they say here, there will be a full investigation in to TSA and their handling of this situation. If they lost control over a smoking battery ... imagine what would happen in real emergency. Rant over.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Letter from GOAA CEO Phil Brown

ORLANDO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (MCO)·SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2017

To those at Orlando international Airport last evening, November 10, 2017:
First, I would like to thank everyone involved in last evening’s incident, customers and staff, for their focus on security and safety, patience and compassion towards each other. What started as a typical Friday evening quickly became anything but. There seems to be some confusion on exactly what occurred last evening, I am happy to share what I know.

An incident occurred on the “A” side of the main terminal outside of the security checkpoint for gates 1-59. A passenger entering the checkpoint had a camera in their carry-on when apparently, the lithium ion battery for the camera caught fire and the bag began to smoke. Realizing this, the passenger of course immediately dropped the bag and those around them moved away from it. Emergency services arrived quickly and moved the bag farther away from passengers queued for security. Unfortunately, with all of the events occurring around the world some witnesses panicked and self-evacuated the area dropping their carry-on luggage and knocking over the stanchions queueing the checkpoint. Others hearing the luggage being dropped, stanchions falling, and rapid movement mistook the sounds as gunfire and within seconds a spontaneous evacuation of the main terminal occurred. During this time emergency staff attempted to calm, gain control, gather everyone back into the building and resume operations. We attempted various methods of communicating but as everyone is aware, a few trying to communicate a message to this large of a mass is a daunting task but efforts were continued throughout the event. Communications is and will always be an issue in this type of a situation but please know that we will always try our best in communicating all available information to our customers and our staff.

In an abundance of precaution the TSA directed the airport to have all passengers at every gate be brought back to the main terminal for rescreening, including all that had boarded a departing flight and those on aircraft awaiting to take off. No one could go to the airside until this was accomplished and gate areas were found to be secure. In this type of situation, we fully complied and fully supported this directive because above all, safety and security is our primary objective. Understandably, this event was very time consuming. Gates 70-129 passenger-screening operations resumed about 2.5 hours after the event occurred and Gates 1-59 about 4 hours after. Much of the delay stemmed from a lack of gate space for returning aircraft and aircraft that needed to be moved/relocated. In noting similar events, I would like to commend all of our staff and the airport community for their roles and actions in this event. And again, a credit to you all with a huge thanks from us for your understanding of the situation and your patience. Thank you and we hope to see you in the terminal soon.

Sincerely,
Phil Brown, CEO
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority

 

[Planogirl]

I don't understand the need to rescreen people at all. Why?

 

[Ensusieasm]

I don't understand the need to rescreen people at all. Why?

They decided to rescreen because many people were allowed to run through the screening area right after the battery exploded. So, they had no idea who had been through screening and who had not, because they were all mixed on the other side of screening. So, they had to bring everyone back from the gates and start over.

 

[Planogirl]

They decided to rescreen because many people were allowed to run through the screening area right after the battery exploded. So, they had no idea who had been through screening and who had not, because they were all mixed on the other side of screening. So, they had to bring everyone back from the gates and start over.

Why would that include those who had already boarded planes? Was it that chaotic?

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I'm not sure you can make something good out of a mess situation...

And hopper, please..."those poor folks"...

First, it's mco and the passengers arent ever princes

Second, its jersey week...where no complaint goes unvoiced from Bergen County...

Let's maintain focus...

 

[KYMickey]

I can maybe understand the complete rescreening of all passengers for that side of the airport (gates 1-59 ) but I don't understand the necessity of doing that for the other side (gates 70-129). I certainly understand all of the concerns about security but if that side was affected they completely lost control of the situation and those in charge should be asked to find new jobs, including Mr. Brown wrote a nice letter but obviously doesn't have control over his people and their actions.

 

[Tinkerbell2017]

I bet it was a crazy mess where people didn't know where to go. If somebody got by that had bad intentions, they would never recover from that. They had to be extra careful. It does seem they should have had a better plan in place.

 

[HopperFan]

I'm not sure you can make something good out of a mess situation...

And hopper, please..."those poor folks"...

First, it's mco and the passengers arent ever princes

Second, its jersey week...where no complaint goes unvoiced from Bergen County...

Let's maintain focus...

I'm first to say Disney guests can be absolutely awful and I'm from NJ so ........ I hear you.

BUT I stand by the fact the TSA lost complete control of the situation and what it proved is that if there were a real incident good luck to everyone because there was chaos and they failed. They are a SECURITY administration part of HOMELAND SECURITY and they blew it. Then it seems half went on break and had dinner.

Why would that include those who had already boarded planes? Was it that chaotic?

Exactly. They should have it down to the minute when the camera began to smoke and any plane that had boarded should have been allowed to leave. They know what happened, they had the owner of the camera ... do they really think a passenger that was already in their airplane was working with this person in some kind of conspiracy?

I can maybe understand the complete rescreening of all passengers for that side of the airport (gates 1-59 ) but I don't understand the necessity of doing that for the other side (gates 70-129). I certainly understand all of the concerns about security but if that side was affected they completely lost control of the situation and those in charge should be asked to find new jobs, including Mr. Brown wrote a nice letter but obviously doesn't have control over his people and their actions.

Yes.

I bet it was a crazy mess where people didn't know where to go. If somebody got by that had bad intentions, they would never recover from that. They had to be extra careful. It does seem they should have had a better plan in place.

If all those people decided to run ... okay, but it should be structured they could run anywhere they wanted EXCEPT through the TSA gateway into the gate area where they could compromise aircraft. That was a failure.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I think your expectations are unrealistic...

...tsa is a headfake for low pay (cause nobody is willing to pay a worker with pride and skill anymore)...so I don't expect anything other than chaos when chaos occurs.

...just like I don't expect Mickey cops to take down a threat with a precision double tap to the head like a seal team...

It's all a matter of perspective

 

[RedK]

Why re-screen people that have already boarded a plane? Haven't you guys seen a Bruce Willis movie?

They were afraid that the exploding battery was a distraction that allowed someone "Bad" to board a plane for evil purposes. That's why they would have re-screened everyone at a gate, in case it was someone who used the burning battery to slip through security with a bomb, firearm, knife, etc.

Security people are taught to look for risks and address them. Sometimes that means they over-react. Sometimes that means they catch someone before something awful can happen.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Why re-screen people that have already boarded a plane? Haven't you guys seen a Bruce Willis movie?

They were afraid that the exploding battery was a distraction that allowed someone "Bad" to board a plane for evil purposes. That's why they would have re-screened everyone at a gate, in case it was someone who used the burning battery to slip through security with a bomb, firearm, knife, etc.

Security people are taught to look for risks and address them. Sometimes that means they over-react. Sometimes that means they catch someone before something awful can happen.

I don't think they did anything inappropriate...

...I just think its spoiled whiner season (all year in mco)

...found out something interesting in Fort Lauderdale today...they had the bomb sniffers out today working the crowd...and since they did, I didn't have to take my shoes off or disassemble my laptop into a plastic bin...and it was much better.

I think I can thank the camera battery for that .

 

[Disneymom1126]

Why re-screen people that have already boarded a plane? Haven't you guys seen a Bruce Willis movie?

They were afraid that the exploding battery was a distraction that allowed someone "Bad" to board a plane for evil purposes. That's why they would have re-screened everyone at a gate, in case it was someone who used the burning battery to slip through security with a bomb, firearm, knife, etc.

Security people are taught to look for risks and address them. Sometimes that means they over-react. Sometimes that means they catch someone before something awful can happen.

I agree this was likely the issue - it is really difficult at this point to get anything harmful through security checkpoints...they even checked all our pre-packaged snacks individually in MCO this October, but if someone wanted to get something precarious through security - causing a distraction like a smoking bag knowing it would send people running in all directions would be one way to do it. What a nightmare for all those involved both the people who had their plans altered and those at the airport...but also what a nightmare for the staff working in the airport. I'm sure there were a lot of angry people and I'm also sure it was a logistical nightmare...I can just imagine the lines of people waiting to take the trams back to the security checkpoint areas in order to wait in more lines to go back through security in order to learn their planes were further delayed or cancelled.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I agree this was likely the issue - it is really difficult at this point to get anything harmful through security checkpoints...they even checked all our pre-packaged snacks individually in MCO this October, but if someone wanted to get something precarious through security - causing a distraction like a smoking bag knowing it would send people running in all directions would be one way to do it. What a nightmare for all those involved both the people who had their plans altered and those at the airport...but also what a nightmare for the staff working in the airport. I'm sure there were a lot of angry people and I'm also sure it was a logistical nightmare...I can just imagine the lines of people waiting to take the trams back to the security checkpoint areas in order to wait in more lines to go back through security in order to learn their planes were further delayed or cancelled.

Actually they did drills as recently as last fall that 8 out of 10 planted devices at LAX made it through...

Most of security is and always has been deterrence...

I always use the early (90's) "scanners" at grocery stores that were just hard plastic hollow stalls...empty camera mounts...etc.

Security is much better than it was 15 years ago...but we're not exactly the Mossad yet.

...anyone want to got to Disneyland?

 

[ShadeDK]

You mean all that recent swabbing of food items didn't prepare them for something like this? I bet it'd have turned out differently if they'd encountered Pop Rocks or some other type of exploding candy instead of a battery.

In all fairness, I'm actually surprised security incidents aren't more common. I don't know if things have changed much (probably not) from years ago when I used to do some aviation work, but screener positions were notorious for being low-pay, high turnover jobs contracted out to low bidding third-party service providers. Whenever I fly, I'm always glad to see screeners who take their job seriously - but never shocked when something "off-script" happens and they don't seem to know what to do.

 

[sndral]

Ok, assuming ground stopping the airport, mandating re-screening for all passengers in both terminals including all previously screened passengers as well as offloading passengers from loaded planes on the tarmac and recalling planes ready to take off to unload those passengers was the appropriate response to one smoking camera at one security checkpoint in one of 2 terminals.
My next question is why so many hours before the security check points were re opened?

 

[golfgirl3613]

I was there, it was terrible. No communication from airport or PA system. When TSA finally opened, they stopped asking us to take our shoes off, etc and had their dogs check the passengers. After all that, our flight was cancelled as we got off the tram. Had to spend the night at the airport and rebook on JetBlue. Terrible end to an awesome vacation.

 

[thornton0511]

We are headed home now. Sucks that lost a full day to an only 4 day trip due to this but at least we did end up getting there and I will say once we did finally get to disney we had a blast. Just getting there was super frustrating and upsetting. What can you do though but make the best of things when you have no control of the situation right? The only thing that still needs to be explained to me from Southwest is when our 5:15 flight was delayed the first time, and then 3 more times after that, why did they just give up and cancel it all together at 8pm but still allow the next leaving flight at 8:30 continue on schedule and leave all of us on the 5:15 flight stranded? Cannot understand the logic behind that. Almost like they just gave up on us completely and it was easier to take us out of the loop and continue on ahead business as usual with all of the fights scheduled behind us going to the same destination.

 

[bladiator]

I think your expectations are unrealistic...

...tsa is a headfake for low pay (cause nobody is willing to pay a worker with pride and skill anymore)...so I don't expect anything other than chaos when chaos occurs.

Then let's just not have them at all if a bomb threat is going to make them wet themselves.