Everyone's familiar with that agonizing wait in a TSA queue, complete with restless feet, crying infants, and winding paths through barriers. If you've recently been at the airport, you've likely found the security lines to be more unpleasant than normal.
TL;DR
- TSA queues at George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby Airports are exceeding four hours due to the government shutdown.
- TSA agents are working without pay for over a month, leading to reduced staffing and closed checkpoints.
- Airlines like United and Delta are providing meals for federal workers impacted by the government shutdown.
- Existing air traffic controller shortages are exacerbated by the shutdown, impacting flight efficiency and safety.
Consider Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport, where TSA wait times have stretched beyond a painful three hours, reaching as much as four-and-a-half hours at times. Travelers have missed flights, and TSA agents, who make an average of $26 an hou r, have been working without pay for over a month due to the government shutdown.
The chaos started due to a reduced number of TSA agents working during the government shutdown. Consequently, numerous security checkpoints were shut down, forcing all passengers to pass through just two terminals, whereas normally nine security checkpoints are accessible. Even the TSA PreCheck lanes, designed to speed up security for vetted travelers, were congested. Lines to pass through security at Bush Airport extended out the door, according to local Houston station KHOU 11 reported.
Regarding the potential duration of these delays, Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for The Houston Airport System, indicated that they might persist for the entire period of the government shutdown.
“The federal government shutdown has impacted TSA staffing and operations nationwide, and Houston Airports is doing everything possible to support our TSA partners and keep passengers moving safely and efficiently,” he Stated in a release on Sunday. “We ask that passengers continue to arrive early and expect extended security wait times until the federal government shutdown is resolved.”
The federal government shutdown's impact on air travel
The federal government shutdown commenced just over a month ago, on October 1st, following Congress's inability to approve a funding measure essential for its continued operation.
Air travel is impacted by the shutdown as federal employees, such as TSA agents, air traffic controllers, and airport security staff, have been placed on furlough, are working without compensation, or have failed to report for duty. TSA lines are extending and flights are experiencing delays or cancellations due to significant staffing shortages.
Airlines such as United, Delta, American, and JetBlue are even providing for TSA employees who persist in reporting for duty.
“United [Airlines] is donating meals for air traffic controllers and other federal workers whose pay is delayed,” the airline told CBS News. “We appreciate the hardworking federal employees who are keeping the Air travel system is operational.
Delta has also provided a select few meals for transportation workers, yet continues to operate “within the strict rules established for employees of federal government agencies.”
Even while going without pay, TSA agents aren’t allowed to strike because they’re federal workers. When 13,000 air-traffic controllers initiated a strike in 1981 due to disputes concerning compensation and work arrangements, the Reagan administration responded by dismissing 11,000 individuals and prohibiting them from future federal employment. Once more. Some TSA and air traffic controllers have simply not been showing up for work, yet Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated he won't dismiss them.
“They need support, they need money, they need a paycheck,” Duffy told CBS on Sunday. “They don’t need to be fired.”
Air traffic controller vacancies
Prior to the government's closure, a shortage of air traffic controllers was already present, an issue that became widely known following a significant event earlier in the year. Sixty-seven lives were lost in January due to a fatal midair crash close to Reagan National Airport involving an American Airlines passenger plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter.
A Federal Aviation Administration internal safety report highlighted critical staffing deficits at the air traffic control tower, with only a single controller managing communications for both helicopters and airplanes. Simultaneously that night. This incident unveiled just how understaffed air traffic control has been, and the FAA is still short about 3,000 controllers. As of November. The FAA stated close to fifty percent of significant air traffic control centers are experiencing a lack of personnel. As the government shutdown continues.
While air traffic controllers earn a decent salary, around $145,000 a year, securing and maintaining such a position is quite challenging.
“It takes a long time to train an air traffic controller,” former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo, told CNN earlier this year. This comes at a high cost. Roughly one-third of them don't make it through because the process is quite demanding.
The system for managing air traffic is outdated.
Furthermore, the United States' air traffic control infrastructure is critically outdated.
Earlier this year, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged that some of the decades-old equipment air traffic controllers rely on appears as though it came off the set of Apollo 13, likening it to a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian noted that flying from Atlanta to LaGuardia currently takes more time than it did in the 1950s, when the route was established by the airline, attributing the delay to outdated air traffic control systems.
This is the air traffic control system. The pace is extremely sluggish. It’s congested,” Bastian told TODAY in May. “If you modernize the skies, you can kind of bring greater efficiency.”
With the holiday travel season rapidly approaching, travel delays are causing more anxiety than ever before. However, there's no clear indication of how long the government shutdown will persist, and consequently, how long the air travel chaos will endure.