A ‘real good chance’ TSA shutdown chaos expands at airports causing more travel delays and headaches, officials say

Aviation officials have warned there is a “real good chance” that the chaos seen at airports due to the shutdown that left Transportation Security Administration without funding could become “widespread” as Republicans and Democrats are in a standoff.

Airports in major cities, including Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans, have been hit the hardest as the shutdown entered its fifth week.

TSA agents missed their first full paycheck last week and now many are not showing up for work, resulting in hours-long lines for security snaking through to baggage claim and terminal garages. The TSA is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, and a political dispute over its funding erupted in the wake of Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

At least 366 TSA agents have quit their jobs amid the ongoing shutdown, leaving teams short-staffed.

With Congress set to break for recess at the end of next week, officials said the effects of the shutdown will likely spread to more airports if the matter isn’t resolved.

“It is not yet widespread …[but] keep this thing going for another week or two, and there’s a real good chance it is going to be widespread,” an anonymous aviation industry official told Politico.

Acting deputy TSA administrator Adam Stahl warned that the agency was “fully stretched.”

“If this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports,” Stahl said this week. “The reality of the situation is this is going to get worse before it gets better, if we don’t see any sort of action.”

“American travelers across the country are facing hours-long airport lines, that will worsen as this shutdown continues,” a TSA spokesperson told The Independent this week. “Democrats are shamelessly playing politics with national security, punishing hardworking TSA workers and their families.”

Fears inside the White House are growing that the situation could spill over and impact major events in the summer.

“I’m extremely worried, not just short term but throughout the summer,” an anonymous White House official told Politico. “World Cup and America250 could be crippled if this isn’t resolved asap.”

Flight-tracking site FlightAware reported 1,598 delays to U.S. flights Friday morning, with 87 cancellations so far. Some of the delays could be for other reasons such as weather.

Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world, has been crippled by long lines for TSA.

Local TV stations reporting from the airport Friday showed lines stretching around baggage claim carousels, with passengers complaining that they had been waiting in line for more than 2 hours before even reaching the main security area.

The airport warned passengers to arrive at least three hours before their flight’s scheduled departure time.

One passenger, Carlos Monroe, said that he showed up to the Atlanta airport at 2:50 a.m. ahead of a 6 a.m. flight and still didn’t make it.

Monroe told CNN the airport advised TSA lines were two hours, but in reality, they were more like three-and-a-half.

“It’s just not fair,” he told the network from the airport’s food court. “I feel bad for everyone except for the people in Washington, D.C. The big people aren’t paying the price for the little people.”

At Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, TSA wait times were exceeding two hours Friday, with local media reporting the line had extended to one floor below the main security checkpoint.

The airport warned on its website that wait times at some terminals had hit 180 minutes by mid-morning.

Airline bosses are furious that negotiations between Republicans and Democrats have so far not yielded results and that both sides are playing the blame game. Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said that TSA workers are being used as “political chips” amid the shutdown.

A bipartisan group of senators, including a number of Democrats who helped negotiate the end of the last shutdown, met this week with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, signaling that lawmakers were hunkering down in an effort to resolve the matter, according to Politico.

But a senior White House official blamed Democrats again for blocking a bill that would have temporarily funded the TSA as negotiations continued.

“A bill that would pay the TSA agents, keep the lights on for a very short period of time and allow time for this negotiation,” the official told reporters on a call this week. “We put forward multiple different pathways for the Democrats to stop inflicting pain on these middle class… TSA workers who are working without pay for the third time this year.”

On the flip side, Democrats have blamed the White House and Republicans and said they won’t approve the funding until new restrictions are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.

“We know that there are discussions about ICE and Border Patrol that we haven’t resolved, but why hold TSA hostage?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week.

“Why hold passengers at our airports who are waiting on long lines hostage?” he asked. “All the Republicans have to do is say yes, and those lines will be greatly reduced or go away.”