Get to the airport early:Government shutdown could double security lines as TSA agents call out sick

[mia]

When AJ Johnson, a teacher in the United Arab Emirates, arrived at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for his flight to Dubai on Thursday, he was greeted with what he described as “a mess.” He has flown out of the airport before but hadn’t seen such a crowd.

“The lines were exceptionally longer than normal, especially for a peak departure time frame of 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.,” he said, adding that only two of three security lines in the terminal were staffed.

A spokeswoman for DFW said the airport is running “with normal operations” and she could not comment on the state of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lines specifically. She said airport data shows 90% of passengers get through security in 14 minutes or less, on average. But the number of agents calling out sick at the airport has increased by 200-300%, CNN reported on Friday.

Throughout the country, other passengers similarly tweeted complaints about long TSA lines in recent days. TSA agents been working without pay since the government shut down on Dec. 21 with no end in sight — and that could lead to travel delays for air passengers, said Christopher R. Bidwell senior vice president for security at Airports Council International, a non-profit representing airport owners and operators in the U.S. and Canada....

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/get-to-the-airport-early-government-shutdown-could-double-security-lines-2019-01-04

[The Truth Is Here]

1. Lucky us.

Landed two nights ago. TSA was starting to get pissy.

[RainCaster]

2. If TSA would get attitude for any GOP member flying

Hold them up for extra processing, searches, questioning and make them sit and wait for an unnamed supervisor to arrive for assistance...

Make those assholes miss a few flights and the shutdown will be over.

[dem4decades]

3. Wait till the Air traffic controllers start calling in.

[3Hotdogs]

4. Yeah. Where can I buy a large umbrella?

[dem4decades]

5. For a parashoot?

[lunatica]

6. I think the OP jokingly means to protect from falling airplanes

At least that’s my take on it because of the mention of air traffic controllers calling in sick.

[dem4decades]

11. I know. My joke was about jumping out of falling airplanes.

[lunatica]

12. OK. I get you now!

[Sugar Smack]

7. The latest tweet on "Trump Regrets" is from an Air traffic controller:

https://twitter.com/trump_regrets?lang=en

[yardwork]

10. Reading that makes me ill. All those selfish, uninformed people.

Reading those tweets, I guess that most of them will stupidly vote for the Republican again in 2020, whether or not it's Trump. They regret their vote right this minute only because they aren't getting their paychecks. Once the government reopens, they'll go back to supporting Trump's vile behavior. They did it once before, why would they change now?

[MichMan]

8. Why are people still flying?

Seems like people would want to boycott the airlines in a show of support the TSA until the shutdown is over since they can't go on strike

[lunatica]

13. Flying isn't a pastime for most people

It’s usually a necessary evil for business, visiting family and any number of things. Why would people want to destroy the airlines over Trump’s tantrum? The TSA isn’t going on strike over a dispute over wages and benefits where backing them up might make sense. They’re objecting to Trump throwing them under the bus in a needless power grab.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. They are probably out job hunting. nt