JFK Terminal Evacuated

ahsmatt7...I am not too sure if TSA makes thatl call; but I would talk from an experience that I had a few months ago in my terminal (Delta Airlines). A lady exited the terminal with her little son for some reason; maybe to go smoke; I don't remember the full story. She tried to reenter the building from the doors she exited, and the security guard cracked the door and told her that this is an exit and she needs to go across the street to enter. She then proceeded to push the security guard out of the way, and her and her son ran to the gate. One of my sups was walking by, and saw the security guard acting frantic, and asked him what happened. He told her the story, and immediately notified his sups and my managers; somewhere in the mix up PA was called. A security hold was issued, and we stopped screening until we got the all clear. 45 minutes went by, and the terminal was not dumped. I'm guessing if they lady and her son were not found, then the call to dump the terminal would've been made. I'm not too sure who makes that call; I'll ask when I go in to work in a few, but I think it's a joint call between everybody, the airlines, PA and TSA. When the terminal gets dumped, everybody needs to be rescreened, then that's TSA's department; and trust me it's no bed of roses. But I'll have an answer from you when I get back from work in a few hours.
 
MQAAord said:
Often the reason for allowing doors that access the ramp to open is that those doors also double as fire exits for the terminal. In the event of a fire in the airport terminal, all those people have to have a way to get out of the building. Better to have them out on the ramp while the building is on fire, than have them die because they couldn't get out of the building.

How it usually works, is when the handle to open the door is pushed without entering whatever code or swiping a badge or whatever an alarm will go off, then after 15-30 seconds the door will release.
Click to expand...

I know the type of door that you're talking about, but I'm not too sure if that was the type of door this guy opened. I don't know about T8, but my current terminal and my old terminal didn't those kind of door for areas we needed to access. I'm talking about doors we use to enter bag rooms, and offices; we enter the ramp area either by going through an outside turn style or going through the jet bridge which both are swipe access/coded, and/or have a security guard manning the station. The doors you mention have a security guard either stationed there, or monitoring the area; either by camera or pacing back and forth.
 
kmiller said:
I know the type of door that you're talking about, but I'm not too sure if that was the type of door this guy opened. I don't know about T8, but my current terminal and my old terminal didn't those kind of door for areas we needed to access. I'm talking about doors we use to enter bag rooms, and offices; we enter the ramp area either by going through an outside turn style or going through the jet bridge which both are swipe access/coded, and/or have a security guard manning the station. The doors you mention have a security guard either stationed there, or monitoring the area; either by camera or pacing back and forth.
Click to expand...

It's been many years since I've been through JFK, and can't remember what that particular terminal's doors are like.

I was just making a general observation as to why doors from the terminal out to the ramp would not be totally unable to be opened by the general public.
 
MQAAord - thanks for the info, I never looked at it that way

ahsmatt7 - so I asked 2 of my supervisors today, and they said in the situation that happened in T8 on Saturady and the story I gave; Port Authority is the one that makes the call and they then sweep the building. The only time TSA "makes" the call; and it's still a joint call with Port Authority, is if it's a breach at a TSA checkpoint and the person who caused the breach can not be located. That would be an uncontrolled breach, which after an elapsed amount of time gone without locating said individual(s) calls for the terminal to be dumped.
 
Bandit_Driver said:
TSA and security is such a joke.

I remember one time when I spotted a guy in street clothes and no ID just walk out to an empty RJ and hop in the cargo old whle my flight was boarding. I called ops and and then ramp and it was like pulling teeth to get a cop over there. When they did show up it turns out the guy was legit and had his ID in his pocket and security wasn't too happy I disturbed their coffee break. (and this was major DC area airport).
Click to expand...

I was in Concourse E at ATL a couple of weeks ago and noticed an unattended bag close to the Delta intl check-in counter. As I proceeded to report it to the DL people, they were already on the phone about it. Meanwhile, a couple of TSA 'officers' walked right passed it w/o batting an eye.


kmiller said:
MQAAord - thanks for the info, I never looked at it that way

ahsmatt7 - so I asked 2 of my supervisors today, and they said in the situation that happened in T8 on Saturady and the story I gave; Port Authority is the one that makes the call and they then sweep the building. The only time TSA "makes" the call; and it's still a joint call with Port Authority, is if it's a breach at a TSA checkpoint and the person who caused the breach can not be located. That would be an uncontrolled breach, which after an elapsed amount of time gone without locating said individual(s) calls for the terminal to be dumped.
Click to expand...

I suppose it's the Federal Security Director who has the final say in the end, right?
 
Another incident!?

TSA = flubbing passengers over left and right.


TSA Director to TSA Board Meeting; "Sirs, it appears that our attemps to make airline travel overly obnoxious have failed, and terrorists are still unaffected."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top