New Orleans Airport Boss Says Problems with Baggage System are in Hand, Long Lines are Improving

The New Orleans airport's top official says the problems with the outgoing baggage handling system that flared up a week ago are in hand, and while there continue to be tweaks and improvements to the process, travelers should not be worried about checking their luggage.

Kevin Dolliole, aviation director for Louis Armstrong International Airport, said bags have been reliably making it to their destination for several days, though the airport stopped short of saying the problem was fixed until Friday evening.

“It’s functioning and has been for several days now with no hitches,” Dolliole said late Friday.

The system was hit with a software problem and mechanical malfunctions on Nov. 7, the morning after the new $1 billion terminal opened, and for the next two days, many travelers across all airlines arrived at their destinations without their baggage.

Working with the companies that installed and operate the system, the airport was able to get bags where they were going on time by the end of last weekend.

Initially, however, “it was pretty bad,” Dolliole said.

The airport said it still does not know how many travelers flew off without their bags, deferring that question to the airlines.

Dolliole that in addition to the software problems, there were a couple of equipment malfunctions and problems at points where bags on separate belts did not merge together as they should because they hadn’t been spaced properly.

He said tests before the terminal opened sought to tax the system as much as possible, but there is no way to duplicate running at full capacity.

“You can simulate all you want, but when you operate it live, it’s something altogether different,” he said.

As for wait times of 90 minutes or more at the security gates reported by some flyers the first Sunday after the airport opened, Dolliole stood behind the Transportation Security Administration’s contention that wait times for almost all flyers were less than 30 minutes and that no one waited for more than 45 minutes.

He said now that all 15 security lanes are open — there were only 11 operating on Nov. 10 — the lines should be much improved.

In the first eight days after the new terminal opened, it played host to 198,662 scheduled departing passengers, an average of almost 25,000 a day — 7% more than the 186,223 during the same period last year.

Dolliole said the airport is working to make sure the upcoming Thanksgiving travel period runs smoothly, but the airport continues to ask people to arrive two hours early for domestic flights so as to allow plenty of time if something goes wrong.

Asked about the curbside pickup arrangements for ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft, which have drawn complaints about long, chaotic lines at peak times, Dolliole said the airport’s approach has been to let all users get accustomed to the system before making any major changes.

Doing anything drastic too early, he said, would be wrongheaded.

Dolliole said that if time, increased familiarity and short-term tweaks don’t improve things, the airport will if necessary move or expand the areas where ride-share vehicles gather and pick up riders.

“If this system doesn’t work in that space, we're not going to sit here a year watching it,” he said. “We’re going to make a move. If it has to go elsewhere, it will go elsewhere.

“We’re all learning the facility, and at the end of the day, not too far down the road, everything will end up placed where it should be.”

He said that while the new ride-share system, in which users get a number and wait in line for a vehicle, had a rough couple of days on Nov. 7-8, it has gotten much better.

That didn’t seem evident to Ciara Coleman, who described the taxi and ride-share pickup area as “a hot mess” when she arrived home from Atlanta about 6:30 p.m. Friday.

“When I walked out to the dedicated space, it was just like mayhem,” she said. “There were a lot of people standing around; there was signage, but not a lot of organization.”

She said people didn’t seem to know what to do. Her Uber app didn’t give her a number, instead hailing her a ride the same it does outside the airport. She crossed the pickup lanes and got into her vehicle after about 20 minutes.

Coleman, who is a program manager for a nonprofit organization, said the operation seemed a little close to the exit from the terminal, noting that ride-share pickup at the Atlanta airport occurs a little farther away.

“Wait until Essence Festival,” she said. “This is going to be a mess with all the people coming in and out of the city. Or Mardi Gras, or even Thanksgiving. Yeah, I’m going to avoid the airport.”

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