Security lines again filled Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday morning, with some wait times as long as 90 minutes in the early morning hours.
The congestion lessened later in the morning, according to the airport’s estimated wait times, but some lines were still more than 40 minutes long at times.
And after a week with long security lines — and some wait times reaching about two hours, a busy travel weekend could bring even more frustrations.
As spring break travel ramps up, Hartsfield-Jackson expects nearly 350,000 people to pass through Atlanta airport security checkpoints from Thursday through Sunday.
That’s after the airport’s website showed some security wait times again reached nearly two hours on Wednesday, typically one of the slower days of the week.
Airport officials are warning travelers they should arrive at least three hours before their departure times.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is advising international travelers to get to the airport four hours ahead of their departures.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Causing the long waits is a partial government shutdown that has left Transportation Security Administration officers working for weeks without pay. Some have been forced to find other work to pay their bills.
Atlanta, being the world’s busiest airport, is perhaps the most visible symbol of the nation’s air travel disruption.
At Hartsfield-Jackson, about 36% of TSA officers have called out of work, according to airport officials.
Hartsfield-Jackson General Manager Ricky Smith said the high call-out rate of TSA employees ‘is an experience that airports across the country are seeing.”
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
The partial government shutdown affects the Department of Homeland Security, of which TSA is a part.
Houston Hobby Airport had a 55% call-out rate last Saturday, and more than 50% call-out rates Sunday and Monday, according to DHS. New Orleans also had more than 30% call-out rates, DHS said.
The agency said at some airports nationally, people are facing three-hour security lines and also missing flights.
“Despite these challenges, TSA officers continue to show up every day, working without pay to ensure the safety of millions of passengers who are traveling through our airport,” Smith said in a video message posted on social media.
“We appreciate your patience, your tolerance,” Smith said. “We truly appreciate that as we work our way through this continued shutdown.”
Funding for DHS is at the center of an impasse between Congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump and Republicans over immigration enforcement. In exchange for approval of DHS funding, Democrats want significant changes to immigration enforcement in the wake of the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian called it “inexcusable” that TSA officers are not being paid, and connected concerns about the Iran war with airport security concerns.
“We have a war going on. Let’s get our people who are essential to our security paid quickly,” he said during remarks at an investor conference Tuesday.
A TSA official on Tuesday said in an appearance on Fox News that “if this continues it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if call-out rates go up.”
He did not give details on when that could occur or what airports would be affected.
Across the country, more than 360 TSA officers have quit because of the shutdown, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The union that represents TSA officers said many of them are “struggling to afford to make it to work while not being paid.”
Hartsfield-Jackson is giving meal vouchers, free parking and free MARTA passes to TSA officers, while airport concessionaires are offering discounted meals.
Airline CEOs sent an open letter to Congress on Sunday calling on it to resolve the shutdown.
They said in the letter that checkpoint wait times of “2, 3 and even 4 hours have been reported,” and airlines are trying to mitigate disruption by holding flights for late passengers and handling rebookings.
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