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Dulles closes screening lanes, lines sprawl in Atlanta as shutdown strains air travel

By STEPHANIE BEASLEY

01/14/2019 11:29 AM EST
Updated 01/14/2019 01:37 PM EST

Washington Dulles International on Monday became the latest airport to close screening lanes because of absences by unpaid TSA agents, adding to a pileup as the 24-day-old government shutdown strains air travel across the country.

Miami International and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental airports similarly announced checkpoint closures over the weekend because of a higher-than-usual rate of no-shows by TSA agents. Meanwhile, passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — the busiest in the world — were stuck in security lines more than an hour long Monday morning after closures of at least six security lanes, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

"We are down a few security lanes because of the shutdown," an Atlanta airport spokeswoman told POLITICO. "The lines are long but there is a continuous flow; they are moving."

The news came three days after TSA agents missed their first paychecks related to the shutdown. By Monday, the number of unscheduled absences at the agency had doubled to 7.6 percent, compared with 3.2 percent for the same day the previous year.

"We're very concerned that the current situation of government employees working without pay is unsustainable," said Christopher Bidwell, senior vice president of security at Airports Council International-North America.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/14/government-shutdown-tsa-airports-lines-1081641

Meanwhile, the shutdown forced TSA to cancel training for 323 front-line employees — baggage screeners included. Basic training classes considered "mission critical" continue, but 18 supervisory and advanced training classes for TSA workers have been nixed, according to a TSA spokesperson.

At Dulles, TSA, airport and airline officials decided to "consolidate checkpoints" Monday morning because of the absences, TSA spokesman Michael Bilello said. He partially attributed the absences to this weekend's snowstorm but acknowledged that it was "slightly higher than a normal call-out rate." However, all lanes at Dulles had been reopened by around lunchtime on Monday.

TSA has vowed that airport security will not be compromised by the shutdown. It has also tried to soften the financial blow to screeners by pledging to compensate agents for the first day of the shutdown and provide $500 bonuses this week.

Still, most airports expect that TSA staffing issues will worsen and, like Miami and others, have developed contingency plans to manage security lanes, Bidwell said.

The airports council and House Democrats have urged TSA to find another way to pay screeners. For example, it could consider tapping into security fee revenue that airline passengers pay as part of the price of a ticket.

However, TSA has said it doesn't have access to that money. Congress annually takes more than a billion dollars of TSA fee revenue for general deficit reduction and the remainder is required to be deposited in the Treasury, Bilello told POLITICO.

Another group of essential personnel also working without pay — air traffic controllers — are also victims of the shutdown. Their union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, has filed suit against the government over the matter. A court hearing on a request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction was supposed to be held Monday, but it has been rescheduled for Tuesday due to snowy conditions in the region.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/14/government-shutdown-tsa-airports-lines-1081641