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