Lafayette Airport Director Responds To Delay Complaints [VIDEO]

Lafayette Regional Airport Director Steven L. Picou responded Tuesday morning after numerous complaints about delays over the weekend. They were all due to passengers being held up at the one TSA checkpoint. Passengers took to social media to complaining about flights leaving the gate as they waited to go through screening. The Lafayette Regional Airport terminal is so small that passengers could actually see the boarding door closed through the glass wall that contains the secure area. The delays were not due to weather or mechanical problems.

Picou stopped short of taking any responsibility for the backups; instead pointing to problems with TSA delays at airports across the country. Picou said the national problem have finally "trickled down" to our airport locally. He also said that he's working with airlines to change recommended arrival times for flights. Picou says passengers should arrive at the airport no later than 90 minutes early for domestic flights and 2 hours early for international connections. It's probably not surprising that the TSA recommends that passengers arrive 2 hours early for domestic flights and 3 hours early for International flights. It's worth noting that none of the flights from Lafayette Regional Airport are longer than an hour and a half. Yes, that means according to Picou's suggestion, you should spend more time waiting for your flight than actually flying on the plane.

From TSA.gov: You are encouraged to arrive at the airport two hours prior to flight departure for domestic travel and three hours for international travel. This allows time for parking and shuttle transportation, airline check-in, obtaining a boarding pass, and going through the security screening process, which includes screening of your carry-on baggage. You are encouraged to contact your airline as times may vary depending on the airport and date of travel.

The airport, which will build a new tax-payer funded terminal within 5 years, currently only has one staffed TSA lane. The new construction will apparently have room for two lane. Picou said the TSA has already agreed to staffing a second lane.