It seems that air traffic controllers at Denver International have an interesting dilemma.
Their contract with the FAA says that they are paid for lunch time. So if they leave the tower at lunch to go, say, down the hall to one of the restaurants on the concourse, they get docked pay.
If they park at the secure lot near their ATC tower, they are subject to TSA inspections on the way in, which means that various restrictions in the War on Liquids suddenly come into play.
A can of Hormel chili. A piece of pumpkin pie. These are the kinds of deadly items Transportation Security Administration screeners have seized from air-traffic controllers at Denver International Airport.
Need a definition of bureaucratic insanity? First, the Federal Aviation Administration refuses to let controllers leave the DIA control tower to eat lunch. Then, because of rules restricting liquids and gels on airplanes, the TSA confiscates parts of lunches that some controllers try to bring through security checkpoints.
Not all lunch items are seized, a TSA spokeswoman assured me – just stuff like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cans of soup and yogurt.
And, the spokeswoman added, controllers can bring cereal through the TSA checkpoint, then buy milk from a restaurant inside the secure area.
They better buy it on the way to work, however, because the FAA has decreed that controllers must take vacation or personal leave to go to lunch.
FAA and TSA spokespeople insist that DIA’s controllers can still get anything they want for lunch through non-TSA checkpoints. They can – but only if they give up parking spots near the air-control tower and are bused into the airport from a remote parking lot several miles away.
Nice of the government to make sure that our air traffic controllers aren’t stressed any more than necessary …
Having a friend who works as a supervisor in a regional air traffic control site, this is just the beginning. I’ve heard him relate other like concerns although since he doesn’t work at the airport, he can leave the building and then be re-searched, but the time constraint does apply. And you don’t want to know how much overtime these folks work, it’s shameful.
Not to mention scary …