Delays Persist at Newark after Breach

(CBS/AP)  Security lines at Newark Liberty International Airport were moving normally Monday, but flights were still running behind schedule a day after a man walked through a screening checkpoint exit to enter a terminal.

The breach caused major delays and grounded flights for six hours Sunday at the airport, one of the busiest in the nation.

Transportation Security Administration officials made passengers leave the terminal and be rescreened after the man walked in the wrong way around 5:30 p.m. The man wasn't found, but the TSA said its re-screening effort ensured every passenger was fully screened.

Lines were moving normally by 7 a.m. Monday, airport spokesman John Kelly said.

TSA investigators will continue studying a video of the breach to try to determine who went through the exit, TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said Monday.

Terminal C, where the security breach occurred, is used mostly by Continental Airlines. Airline spokesman Susannah Thurston said the airline still had delays, particularly with flights that originated at Newark and are now running behind schedule at other airports.

At Oslo's Gardermoen airport, a Contentinal flight to Newark that was scheduled to leave at 11 a.m. local time was delayed at least six hours. Passengers sat on suitcases and chatted among themselves as they waited in a check-in line that barely moved for one-and-a-half hours.

Ragnhild Belbo, 26, of Trondheim, Norway, was traveling to St. Paul, Minn., with her 82-year-old grandmother to visit her brother, a student at St. Olaf College. She was disappointed to learn they would likely have to spend the night in Newark.

"It's a bit hard to lose one day when you have one week only, and there could also be more delays," Belbo said.

Kristian Hoynes, 19, of Floro, Norway, worried about missing his second anniversary dinner with his girlfriend of two years, who was staying with her parents in Warrenton, Va.

"We'd sort of planned a dinner," said Hoynes, a sophomore at the University of Charleston, W.V. "We're kind of cheap, so we were going to go to an Applebee's, maybe an Outback, and we were hoping to catch a movie. But now I don't know."

Still, he said, if he gets stranded in Newark, "You know college. I have friends everywhere. I can make a few phone calls and crash somewhere."

A YouTube video posted Sunday shows some passengers making the most of the delay - joining in an impromptu sing-a-long to the Beatles' "Hey Jude."

Also Sunday, the Transportation Security Administration said passengers flying into the United States from nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism and "countries of interest" will be subject to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans and pat-downs.

Starting Monday, all passengers on U.S.-bound international flights will be subject to random screening.

The State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers will face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

[Sholomy]

The government us useless and inept at keeping you safe.

If you board a plane today you do so at your own risk.

I don't want to deal with grieving children and widows.

It's your own fault. Take responsibility for your own safety and don't board if you think the plane is not safe.

[noloyalisti]

Who are you going to trust, some big corporation who has no feelings for human life and only cares about how much profit they can make? The private sector has completely failed us. The government will work as long as there are no Republicans in it.

[jd2408]

This is not the first time we have heard of problems with people going thru the exits. If it causes this much trouble why don't they have someone guarding the exits ? Seems like it would be worth it.

[Sholomy]

There always is supposes to be a guard there, but at $6.50 an hour they are not very dependable.

Board a plane at your own risk. The government cannot protect you.

[sjc_1]

Minimum wage was what the private companies use to pay before 9/11. Now they are government employees, they get training, salaries and benefits. Bush and the GOP fought that because their friends in the private business were making a bundle. They also did not want more government employees voting Democrat. This is ALL part of the record, the GOP got caught on the wrong side of that issue BIG time.

[Normus]

This just in:
Increased TSA security measures have not yet resulted in the apprehension of Al-Queda Pantybombers, but higher than normal instances of soiled drawers has led to an investigation of airport food services. Phlegm at eleven....

[nycsense]

We are prisoners in our own country. Full body scannings? What's next? Body cavity searches with minty gloves? Will everyone have to pre-lube before getting to the airport as well? Ladies and gentlemen, the terrorists have officially won! This is exactly what they wanted. I hear that this is the way Isreal has been living for years. Isreal? I DON'T CARE ABOUT ISREAL! I do care about this country. For those of you so offended by my comment, move to Isreal if you love it so much, and good luck.

[DaVicar8]

They need to make sure that these checkpoints are better labelled.
Everyone knows you're not supposed to enter through an exit.

...Well, except the people in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont...but everyone else knows that you're not supposed to enter through an exit.

[nowhiningallowed]

Kindly explain why if this breach was done by a man, why women and children were subjected to a re-screening? Makes no sense whatsoever. Political correctness again run amok.

[DaVicar8]

"Kindly explain why if this breach was done by a man, why women and children were subjected to a re-screening?"

Because some men occasionally employ accomplices.