LAX Thursday Morning Rescreening Causes Cancellations, Delays

After a power outage the previous evening, the Los Angeles International Airport cleared Terminal 1 Thursday morning for security concerns.

• By Kaitlyn DeHaven
• Jun 07, 2019

A power outage Wednesday evening at the Los Angeles International Airport, followed by the allowance of unauthorized items in a secured area caused a mass rescreening of passengers Thursday morning to ensure airport safety. This rescreening caused Southwest Airlines 10 flight cancellations and 15 delays Thursday morning.

Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman for the TSA told the Los Angeles Times that some of the passengers who stayed in Terminal 1 overnight were given access to their checked bags. This precipitated a cause for concern, as prohibited items were available in the terminal, which is a secured area.

“An airline granted passengers whose flights were canceled access to their checked bags, resulting in the unintentional introduction of prohibited items into the secure area at the airport,” Dankers said. “Out of an abundance of caution, TSA leadership at LAX made the decision to rescreen the passengers.”

After the terminal was cleared, airport police swept the area. In addition, officers used dogs to search for any prohibited items.

The rescreening affected more than just passengers who were in the terminal, but passengers who were arriving for their flights as well. Carrie Barnett, who arrived at LAX early for her 9 a.m. flight, told the Los Angeles Times the screening process moved slowly and the line was extremely long.

“Police were trying to usher people through the drop-off process outside,” Barnett said. “The line of people wrapped around the security area all the way through the terminal and outside.”

Olga Gallardo, who is a LAX spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times that the power outage was caused by a glitch at a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Station. She said the generators immediately regained power, but it took the airport 1 ½ hours to completely reboot their systems.

Terminals 1,7, and 8 were without power for long periods of time, but there is currently no answer for why. In addition to the 25 delays and cancellations Thursday morning, 18 Southwest Airlines flights and three United Airlines flights were cancelled Wednesday evening due to the outage.