If you go to the TSA security checkpoint at any airport in the United States – particularly the larger ones – you know it’s just a bunch of ongoing organized (and sometimes not-so-organized) chaos. You’ve got:
- The TSA officers barking orders and being rude (here’s why they say they’re rude – straight from the horse’s mouth)
- The passengers who rarely, if ever, fly, who didn’t prepare and have no clue about what’s required of them
- The passengers with kids who are overwhelmed
- The elderly passengers who do everything more slowly nowadays
- The frequent flyers who are exasperated by all those other people
However, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport, some of the TSA security checkpoints run a bit more smoothly.
Why?
Because Delta Air Lines
ATL is, of course, a hub for Delta Air Lines. Actually, it’s more than just a hub; it’s been said, tongue in cheek, that Delta owns ATL. And with the airline offering an average of 1,000 daily flights departing from that airport, serving more than 207 destinations worldwide, you can see why.
So what does Delta Air Lines have to do with making TSA go more smoothly at ATL?
Flight attendants.
Yep. If you’re at select TSA checkpoints at ATL, you may well see flight attendants from Delta Airlines helping to keep everything going smoothly. They can’t do the TSA officers’ job, of course, but they direct passengers to get them into the “right” line (so, for example, they don’t go into the PreCheck queue if they don’t have PreCheck), help make sure that everyone’s belongings are in bins before they go through the scanner, etc.
These are legit positions called TSA Divestment Officers. Since Delta owns so many gates at ATL, they began fostering a relationship with the DOA and TSA, to help the queues move faster. Delta’s flight attendants can bid to work the positions and you can tell it’s then because they wear Delta shirts and high visibility vests.
FUN FACT! Although you’ll typically seen Delta employees “divesting” at the South and/or Main checkpoints, you might also see ATL’s facilities maintenance employees doing it at the North checkpoint (you’ll know it’s them because they wear green).
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