One month into the partial government shutdown, hundreds of Transportation Security Administration workers going without full pay have quit, while others have taken unscheduled time off, prompting more travel headaches as a winter storm slammed the Midwest and spring break travelers try to fly.
A number of travelers are facing long airport security lines, including at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where wait times on Monday occasionally stretched up to nearly two hours long.
“Oh my God, are these the lines for TSA? That’s crazy,” Alijah Brown told CNN when she saw the line in Atlanta.
More than 300 TSA agents have quit, the Department of Homeland Security said in an X post Friday.
Last weekend, TSA workers missed their first full paycheck since the partial shutdown began in mid-February after funding for DHS, which oversees TSA, lapsed amid a standoff between Republicans and Democrats over federal immigration reform.
“It’s not their fault because they’re not getting paid and they’re not going to come in here. I wouldn’t do it either,” Victoria Kilgore said as she tried to get her family of four from Atlanta to Punta Cana, Mexico, for vacation. “You’re just trying to buy your time back, have a little piece of vacation from the Matrix, and the Matrix still gets you.”
In a letter Sunday, the CEOs of major airlines, including American, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, urged Congress to restore DHS funding and embrace a bipartisan solution to ensure federal aviation workers are paid during shutdowns.
“It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, put gas in the car and pay rent when you are not getting paid,” the letter said.
Late last year, the longest government shutdown on record came to an end after an increasing number of air traffic controllers and TSA screeners did not show up to work. Air traffic controllers are not affected by the ongoing partial shutdown.
It’s “no surprise” that hundreds of TSA employees have quit this time around, Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement to CNN on Sunday. The union represents more than 46,000 uniformed TSA workers.
“Most Americans would quit their jobs if they didn’t get a paycheck on payday,” Kelley said. Still, many officers continue to work with “care and professionalism,” he added.
Last year, approximately 1,110 officers “separated from TSA in October and November,” according to TSA data shared in February with the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
But the reduced staffing is not just due to workers quitting. The callout rate for unscheduled absences by frontline officers jumped to an average of 6% during the current shutdown, compared with about 2% before government funding lapsed, according to CBS News, citing TSA statistics. CNN has reached out to TSA.
“Officers are not just not showing up, they have reasons for not showing up. Whether it is I can’t put gas in my car, I have to take care of my children,” Aaron Barker, an American Federation of Government Employees union leader in Atlanta, said Monday.
Federal employees are guaranteed to receive back pay once the shutdown ends, according to a 2019 law.
Less money and a lot less help
In the last major shutdown, which affected the entire federal government, more financial help was available to struggling federal workers.
Some employees were able to access short-term, no-interest loans from their financial institutions to help them meet expenses during the last impasse. And several nonprofit groups hosted events to provide groceries and household items to affected employees.
“The officers are pissed off. They want this to end. They are ready to get back to some normalcy or some consistency within their lives,” Barker added.
This time, several employees interviewed by CNN said they are not getting as much support. Some have opted to withdraw thousands of dollars from their retirement accounts to pay the bills, and others are borrowing from family and friends. And many are trying to figure out what bills can be left unpaid or what expenses can be postponed until they start receiving paychecks again.
The city of Atlanta is providing TSA officers with two meal vouchers per shift and free parking, among other supportive measures, according to a statement from Mayor Andre Dickens on Monday.
Some airports have started asking travelers to assist the TSA officers. Denver International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas are requesting donations of items, including grocery and gas gift cards, non-perishable food, hygiene products and infant supplies.
Officials at Portland International Airport have set up donation areas where travelers and community members can drop off food, household items and gift cards.
“We couldn’t keep things running so smoothly at PDX without our federal partners,” a spokesperson for Portland airport said in a statement to CNN. “While the partial government shutdown continues, hundreds of TSA officers at PDX are designated as essential and continue to work without pay.”
In Idaho, Boise Airport put out food donation boxes and Pocatello Regional Airport is accepting donations of food, household supplies and gift cards.
“The financial consequences of this shutdown, damaged credit, missed payments and lost housing will remain after the government reopens,” Barker said.
Storms, spring break and long lines
Security lines also swelled in South Florida airports on Monday, as effects from the partial government shutdown combined with increased spring break traffic and disruptions from storms up and down the East Coast.
Getting through security at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport took up to an hour at some points, with lines sometimes stretching out the door, CNN affiliate WPLG reported.
“I’m just looking ahead, and this is … this is wild,” one traveler told WPLG from the tail end of a long TSA line.
“It’s spring break. It is what it is,” another traveler who’d been in line for about an hour told WPLG.
To make matters worse, some passengers checked bags and waited in line only to find out their scheduled flight wasn’t happening. About one out of every five flights at Fort Lauderdale airport were canceled Monday, according to data from the flight tracking site FlightAware. There were nearly 600 cancellations across both the Fort Lauderdale and Miami airports.
Despite the travel headaches, some at the airport expressed sympathy for the unpaid TSA officers and said they did’t blame them for the airport congestion.
“I know (TSA officers) are in a really tough spot,” one Fort Lauderdale traveler said. “Whatever frustrations I have, it’s toward higher-up leadership, not toward the people who are working here … they’ve been wonderful.”
The security backups at US airports have continued for days. Going into the weekend, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport warned it had a shortage of TSA workers at security checkpoints “due to impacts from the federal government’s partial shutdown,” and wait times could be up to two hours. It advised passengers traveling in recent days to arrive at least three hours before their flight.
Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta advised travelers to arrive at least three hours early for flights, citing TSA projections for more than 250,000 travelers over the weekend through Sunday. Last week, the airport reported long lines due to staffing constraints.
A TSA report published in 2024 found more than 99% of passengers waited less than 30 minutes at airport security checkpoints, while 99.4% of passengers in TSA PreCheck lanes waited less than 10 minutes.
At Chicago O’Hare International Airport, a CNN reporter saw chaotic scenes Sunday, with passengers shuffling from line to line.
Long lines were not the only concern in the Midwest, where winter storms caused widespread cancellations and delays.
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport canceled more than 670 flights in and out of the airport on Sunday, while O’Hare and Chicago Midway International Airport canceled more than 1,200 flights, according to FlightAware.
This story has been updated with additional information.
