Thousands trying to get out of Atlanta after lights went out at Hartsfield airport
Story highlights
- With restaurants closed, man took MARTA train to pick up pizza, he says
- After airport blackout, passengers being told it could be days before they can rebook
Atlanta (CNN)There
were people still sleeping on the floor the day after a power outage
shut down operations at the Atlanta airport, but long ticket and
security lines were moving slowly as normalcy began returning to the world's busiest airport Monday.
Mondays
and the holiday breaks are busy times for Hartsfield-Jackson
International in general. Frequent fliers said the airport felt a little
busier than usual, especially in the terminal that hosts Delta, which
is headquartered in Atlanta.
The
line for Delta's Sky Priority passengers zig-zagged back and forth
seven times and was still backed up to the main entrance to the airport.
Some passengers muttered, "Oh my," upon encountering the lines. Others'
reactions were more profane.
Passengers wait to learn if their flights will leave Atlanta on Monday.
Volunteers
in shirts that said, "Ask Me," tried to allay concerns and passed out
doughnuts to those in line, many of whom shared horror stories about the
night before.
While
some fortunate passengers were able to board the flights departing
Atlanta, other passengers were being told they'd have to wait hours or
days. One airline was telling passengers it would be five days before
they could get a flight out.
'They did pretty well'
When
Ashley Hanford, 32, an Atlanta native who now calls Washington home,
arrived for her 3 p.m. flight Sunday, the power was already out. Her
flight was among almost 1,200 that were canceled Sunday.
She
slept in the terminal all night. Speaking to CNN as she charged her
phone around 5 a.m. Monday, Hanford said airline and airport employees
did their best to take care of stranded passengers, handing out
blankets, beverages, even slices of pizza.
"For it to be so chaotic, they did pretty well," she said.
Hanford planned to hang out at a cousin's house Monday before returning for her rescheduled 9:30 p.m. flight, she said.
While
airline delays tend to spark short fuses, passengers seemed
particularly magnanimous Monday morning. April Hubbard, who was in the
security line for her flight to Houston when the airport went dark,
reported a lack of communication, widespread rumors, the strong smell of
fire near baggage claim and a taxi line that amounted to "pandemonium."
Stranded passengers congregate around baggage claim Sunday.
But the people stuck in the airport were "remarkably good," she said.
Another
passenger, Suzi Harrington, could miss an adventure of a lifetime if
she doesn't get a flight out Monday. She and three friends were
scheduled to travel to Tanzania in hopes of summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro on
Christmas, she said. As she stood in a long Delta ticketing queue, she
said she wasn't angry.
"I mean, what are you going to do?" she said.
'Possibly millions of people disrupted'
Mayor: Cause of fire behind outage unknown
Electricity returned to the mammoth airport late Sunday.
Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport: By the numbers
- Hartsfield-Jackson has been the world's busiest airport since 1998
- An average of 275,000 passengers pass through each day
- Airport handles 2,500 arrivals and departures daily, on average
- Hartsfield-Jackson airport serves 150 destinations in the US, and over 75 destinations in 50 countries worldwide
- Home to North America's tallest air traffic control tower (398 feet; 121 meters) -- it's also the world's fourth highest
- Georgia's largest employer, with more than 63,000 employees
The
lights flickered on shortly before midnight, after an exhausting day
for travelers. Thousands were stranded in dark terminals and on planes
sitting on the tarmac.
The blackout
led the Federal Aviation Administration to declare a ground stop at the
airport, preventing Atlanta-bound flights in other airports from taking
off and causing inbound flights to be diverted. The ground stop in Atlanta disrupted air travel across the United States.
Shortly after power came back, some passengers lined up at security screening, hoping to beat the crowds as the TSA checkpoints reopened at 3:30 a.m.
The
outage, which affected all airport operations, started with a fire in a
Georgia Power underground electrical facility, Mayor Kasim Reed said.
The
electrical fire's intensity damaged two substations serving the
airport, including the airport's "redundant system" that should have
provided backup power, Reed said.
An estimated 30,000 people were affected by the power outage, Reed said.
A traveler sleeps on a baggage carousel at Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sunday.
The
disruption led to 1,180 flight cancellations to and from the airport
Sunday, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. As Atlanta is
the heart of the US air transport system, it also caused problems at
other airports, said Desmond Ross, principal of DRA Professional
Aviation Services.
"We're talking
possibly millions of people disrupted over the next few days and it is
certainly not going to be fixed in one day," Ross said.
Officials: Switchgear box failure caused fire
Passengers wait in a dark terminal at the Atlanta airport Sunday.
At
12:38 p.m., Georgia Power noticed outages in the system that were
traced to a fire in underground tunnels where the airport's electric
system lives, spokeswoman Bentina Terry said. The fire caused multiple
faults that led to the blackout at 1:06 p.m.
The
fire's intensity prevented Georgia Power crews from immediately
accessing the tunnels to restore power, the mayor said. By 3:30 p.m.,
fire crews contained the fire.
"We
know there was a failure in the switchgear that caused the fire that
absolutely created the issue," Paul Bowers, Georgia Power's president
and CEO, told ABC's "Good Morning America." A switchgear is a collection
of devices that helps control power distribution.
When
the switchgear ignited beneath a tunnel housing Georgia Power's cables,
he said, it impacted cables in both directions and burned a wall
through which the cables travel, taking out both the main system and the
backup system.
Investigators were
in the tunnel Monday morning, trying to answer several questions --
including whether the fire was deliberately set -- and workers will have
the cables fixed this week, Ross told the morning show.
The
failed switchgear box was located under Concourse C, in an area that is
restricted by key-card access only and monitored by video surveillance,
said Sgt. Cortez R. Stafford, an Atlanta Fire Rescue spokesman.
Stafford said there was no unauthorized entry before the fire.
Authorities concluded their investigation and determined there was no evidence of foul play, according to Stafford.
Stuck for hours
Power outage paralyzes Atlanta airport
After
the airport went dark, people used their phones to light their way
through shadowy terminals. Nothing worked. The train between terminals
was shut down. Elevators, escalators, automatic doors and baggage
carousels stood still. Screens were black. The intercom that normally
squawks flight updates was silent.
No one could get reliable phone or internet service to access texts, email, flight apps or social media.
Meanwhile,
amid the dearth of information, people were too nervous to leave their
spots, fearing the power might soon return at any moment and they'd lose
their place in whatever line they were in.
The
bathrooms quickly turned malodorous. The sensors on toilets, sinks and
soap and towel dispensers stopped functioning, leaving people futilely
waving their hands in front of them. Custodial staff put out giant rolls
of paper towels.
Shayne Plemons
of Palm Beach, Florida, and her husband were headed home and had a
layover in Atlanta that landed just minutes after the blackout. They
stayed on the tarmac for six hours. The plane had power and the pilots
kept passengers informed about developments -- or the lack thereof --
but the plane ran out of food after about three hours and the crew at
one point asked passengers to stop flushing toilets, Plemons said.
There was plenty of water
and other drinks, though, she said. Plemons ended up watching movies
until passengers were able to disembark onto the tarmac.
"Under
the circumstances, it was well-managed. (Delta employees) were doing
the best they could," she said. "They kept everyone fed, watered and
comfortable."
Joe Ryan, 27, had
less luck staying fed. He arrived about 5:30 p.m. for his and his
fiancee's flight to Chicago and found the airport dark.
"I'd heard it had been out for a while, but I thought, 'Man, they must be closer to getting it on,'" he said.
Finding
no restaurants open, Ryan ordered a pizza to be delivered to a nearby
MARTA station in College Park and took the train to go pick it up and
bring it back to the airport's second-floor atrium, where he and his
fiancee spent the night. On Monday morning, both Ryan and the Plemonses
were still waiting, hoping to catch planes home in the afternoon.
If they didn't make those flights, both couples were told it might be Wednesday before they could fly home.
By Monday afternoon, Delta, which had reported 1,400 flight cancellations, tweeted that operations were returning to normal and most passengers had been rebooked.
