After one month of the partial government shutdown, hundreds of Transportation Security Administration employees, unpaid, have resigned, while others have taken unscheduled leave. This has worsened travel conditions amidst a winter storm hitting the Midwest and the start of spring break travel.
The Department of Homeland Security announced in an X post Friday that over 300 TSA agents have left their positions.
This past weekend, TSA personnel missed their first complete paycheck since the partial shutdown commenced in mid-February. This occurred after funding for DHS, the agency overseeing TSA, expired due to a political impasse between Republicans and Democrats regarding federal immigration reform.
In a letter on Sunday, the chief executives of major airlines, including American, Delta, Southwest, and JetBlue, pressed Congress to restore DHS funding and find a bipartisan solution to ensure federal aviation workers are compensated during future shutdowns.
The letter stated, “It is challenging, if not impossible, to afford food, fuel, and housing costs when you are not receiving wages.”
Late last year, the longest recorded government shutdown concluded after a rising number of air traffic controllers and TSA screeners stopped reporting for duty. Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the current partial shutdown.
It’s “hardly surprising” that hundreds of TSA employees have resigned this time, Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, told CNN in a Sunday statement. The union represents over 46,000 uniformed TSA personnel.
“Most individuals would resign from their jobs if they didn’t receive a salary on payday,” Kelley remarked. Nevertheless, he noted that many officers continue to perform their duties with “diligence and expertise.”
According to TSA data shared in February with the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, approximately 1,110 officers “departed from TSA in October and November” last year.
However, reduced staffing isn’t solely due to resignations. The rate of unscheduled absences among frontline officers soared to an average of 6% during the current shutdown, up from about 2% before government funding lapsed, CBS News reported, citing TSA statistics. CNN has sought comment from the TSA.
A 2019 law guarantees that federal employees will receive back pay once the shutdown concludes.
Reduced Financial Aid and Support
During the previous significant shutdown, which impacted the entire federal government, more financial assistance was available to struggling federal employees.
“The resources we had last fall are not accessible today,” stated George Borek, an AFGE union steward and TSA officer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Some employees previously secured short-term, interest-free loans from their financial institutions to help cover expenses during the impasse. Additionally, several nonprofit organizations arranged events to provide groceries and household goods to affected employees.
Yet, some TSA staff members faced eviction last fall, and others had their vehicles repossessed, Kelley recounted.
This time, several employees interviewed by CNN reported receiving less support. Some have chosen to withdraw thousands of dollars from their retirement savings to cover bills, while others are borrowing from family and friends. Many are also prioritizing which bills to delay or which expenses to defer until their paychecks resume.
Some airports have begun soliciting assistance for TSA officers from travelers. Denver International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas are requesting donations of items such as grocery and gas gift cards, non-perishable food, hygiene products, and infant supplies.
In Idaho, Boise Airport has set up food donation boxes, and Pocatello Regional Airport is accepting contributions of food, household essentials, and gift cards.
Travel Chaos: Winter Storms, Spring Break, and Extended Waits
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport announced at the weekend’s outset that it faced a shortage of TSA personnel at security checkpoints “due to consequences of the federal government’s partial shutdown,” warning of potential wait times up to two hours. Passengers traveling Sunday and Monday were advised to arrive at least three hours prior to their flights.
Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta recommended that travelers arrive a minimum of three hours early for flights, citing TSA forecasts for over 250,000 passengers from Friday through Sunday. Last week, the airport reported extensive queues due to staffing issues.
A CNN editor flying from Atlanta on Sunday morning experienced a 72-minute wait at one checkpoint. A CNN producer took approximately 40 minutes to clear Atlanta’s main TSA PreCheck line Sunday evening, which is longer than typical.
A TSA report published in 2024 indicated that over 99% of passengers waited less than 30 minutes at airport security checkpoints, while 99.4% of passengers in TSA PreCheck lanes waited under 10 minutes.
At Chicago O’Hare International Airport, a CNN reporter observed disorganized scenes, with travelers moving between lines.
Extended queues are not the sole issue in the Midwest, where the threat of winter weather is leading to flight cancellations and delays.
As of Sunday evening, more than 20 million people were under winter weather advisories, with projections of 1-2 feet of snow in the northern Great Lakes region.
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport canceled over 670 inbound and outbound flights on Sunday, while O’Hare and Chicago Midway International Airport collectively canceled more than 1,200 flights, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.