The AJC is monitoring Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday, March 30. Here is a feed of what’s happening there and elsewhere amid a partial government shutdown.
After more than a week of bringing you live updates from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, we are finally signing off. AJC reporters are still tracking what's happening at the world's busiest airport and will bring you fresh stories as the news comes in.
In the meantime, here are some resources with key information for travelers and those curious about how things are going at the airport.
Atlanta TSA workers are finally receiving back pay. Future pay remains uncertain.
Why lines are long: The many reasons ATL has been hit so hard
How bad is it?: Live airport security wait times and today's trends
The politics: Should ATL privatize security?
AJC editorial: Congress must act now to fix ridiculously long lines at American airports
Flight missed: Here’s the best food in every concourse
The U.S. House on Friday passed a short-term Department of Homeland Security funding bill, and today the Senate ignored it.
It was the latest, albeit brief, chapter in the disagreement that now lies between House and Senate Republicans who are backing different proposals to fund DHS and end the partial government shutdown.
The Senate inaction today was contained during a two-minute pro forma session that is usually a formality during recess. There was no mention of the House funding legislation, despite speculation that Senate Republicans could attempt to pass the bill by unanimous consent.
If Republicans had tried that, Senate Democrats would have objected. But there was no mention of the House bill at all.
That makes it likely there will be no effort to end the record-setting shutdown until after lawmakers return in mid-April.
In a sign of a fairly calm Monday, Hartsfield-Jackson has turned its automated wait time tracking system back on after more than a week.
Wait times as of 10:45 a.m. Monday were all in the single digits.
The airport had temporarily turned off the AI-powered prediction system because it wasn't designed to calculate security line waits past checkpoint entrances. With lines frequently spilling outside the building, the airport instead began advising people to arrive four hours before their flight, regardless.
Meanwhile, Clear's Domestic Terminal lanes were back open for members Monday morning, when security lines remained quite short.
Hartsfield-Jackson has recently been keeping the lanes closed intermittently because of TSA staffing constraints and long security lines during the ongoing partial government shutdown. Airport General Manager Ricky Smith told the AJC last Thursday it wasn't "the most efficient use of our TSA resources to have a dedicated Clear line at this particular time."
Its lanes at the International Terminal, however, have remained open. When the domestic lanes have been closed, Clear staff have shifted to help "the TSA with divestment, wayfinding, and line management," a company spokesperson told the AJC last week. The company has donated more than $200,000 in gas and grocery cards to TSA.
The biometric identification technology firm offers an expedited ID verification process for those who pay for the membership, but all members must still be screened by TSA. A Clear+ trusted traveler membership costs $209 annually.
Some Atlanta Transportation Security Administration officers have begun receiving promised back pay for their six weeks of unpaid work.
George Borek, an American Federation of Government Employees union steward representing Atlanta area TSA employees, confirmed to the AJC on Monday he has received a paycheck for most of his missing hours. But there are about 30 hours absent from the check, he said.
“I know a lot of other officers are missing a lot more. There’s going to be a need for a lot of corrections,” he said.
Although this is welcome news for officers who have been working without pay for six weeks — caught in the crossfire of a Congressional stalemate over immigration funding — the question of whether they will receive future paychecks remains unclear.
“If you read the president’s executive order it says ‘accrued.’ It does not say going forward,” Borek noted.
A Friday memo from President Donald Trump directed the Secretary of Homeland Security “to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown.”
“We want stability. We as TSA officers, we don’t have stability. We have nothing,” Borek said. “I’m glad we got some money but it still doesn’t resolve the problem. People are still in debt, they have backed up bills.”
The larger issue of ongoing funding, Borek said, remains at the feet of Congress.
Although crushingly long security lines haven't manifested so far in Atlanta this morning, one thing is clear: Hartsfield-Jackson's staff would have been ready for it.
In recent weeks of strain from the partial government shutdown, the world's busiest airport has continued to fine-tune its crowd management strategies, airport General Manager Ricky Smith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week.
The airport has dramatically increased the number of non-operations employees pitching in on the terminal floor to direct lost passengers and keep lines in order. It has instituted a regimented system of stanchions and signage to try to make clear which security lines begin where — something that had previously been a problem for passengers lost in the crowds.
"You have someone who, his or her job is to process invoices, and we're now saying, 'We need you to get up 3:30 in the morning, to be here by 5,"' he said. "And they’re doing it. They're not complaining."
Wait times at the Atlanta airport were very short for a Monday morning, a drastic departure from Monday of last week when travelers faced hourslong lines that wrapped around bagged claim and spilled outside the terminal and onto the sidewalk.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter and photographer are on the ground at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and the differences are stark between this morning and last Monday morning.
The Atlanta airport is not currently posting wait times amid the turmoil at the Transportation Security Administration.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has developed a tool for passengers to use to help report security checkpoint times to help fellow travelers and to help better inform our reporting.
Estimated wait times submitted to the AJC from passengers showed lines of less than 20 minutes long in the Domestic Terminal in the past 30 minutes.
The airport continues to advise travelers to arrive at least four hours before their flights.
Monday mornings are almost always busy at the Atlanta airport. Today’s situation, however, appears far more manageable than this time last week, when lines for security stretched outside the terminal building.
Lines were moving steadily at checkpoints in the Domestic Terminal, which is full of additional airport staff, filling in to help with crowd control.
“This is awesome!” a traveler said as he beelined into a fast moving security line.
Transportation Security Administration employees on Monday have started receiving their first paychecks since a partial government shutdown in mid-February led to high worker callout rates and long airport security lines.
The pay development comes after President Donald Trump signed an emergency order Friday freeing up the money amid unresolved clashes over Department of Homeland Security funding, particularly fights over Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
The House late Friday passed a bill requiring 60 days of funding for all of DHS. That bill now returns to the Senate, where Democrats have pledged to block it. Any compromise that can pass both chambers is unlikely to happen until lawmakers return from a two-week recess.
How the political maneuverings will play out in the security lines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport remains to be seen. The Monday morning rush is a busy time at the world's busiest airport even on normal days, but it has been quiet so far today.
Passengers are still advised to arrive at least four hours early because of unpredictable wait times.
Sunday was expected to be a busy day, but travelers were met with breezily short security lines, with almost no waits most of the day. A union representative for TSA workers attributed the shorter waits to travelers changing their plans, saying airport security is still running on a skeleton staff.
The airport has temporarily stopped providing wait time estimates on its website. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has developed a tool for travelers to provide real-time data to the AJC to help keep fellow travelers informed and help better inform our reporting.
The AJC is monitoring for news from the Atlanta airport, and out of Washington and the nation.
5 things to know
Why lines are long: The many reasons ATL has been hit so hard
How bad is it?: Tell us about your waits in real time with this AJC app
The politics: Should ATL privatize security?
AJC editorial: Congress must act now to fix ridiculously long lines at American airports
Flight missed: Here’s the best food in every concourse
On Sunday, a steady stream of travelers, visibly hardened by the headlines and images of chaos over the past week, streamed through Hartsfield-Jackson.
Yet their worst fears did not come to pass.
In a bizarre twist, the airport today seemed less busy than a typical, pre-shutdown Sunday. The majority of passengers on Sunday got through security in less than 20 minutes. And given what they had prepared for, airport officials cautioned passengers this morning to arrive four hours early, there was a palpable sense of gratefulness.
As people walked from the arrivals atrium to the main checkpoint, a sense of comfort washed over many. Their shoulders slackened, pace slowed and jaws unclenched as they approached the sparse line. Several travelers and workers could be heard whispering prayers of relief, perhaps letting go of the nightmare scenarios that had been plastered on their social media feeds over the past week.
Food court workers joked and jostled as they enjoyed their downtime. Families took the time to give each other long, repeated hugs at the checkpoint entrance as they sent off their sibling, parents and children.
The AJC will be back at the airport early Monday morning as TSA workers await news of a potential paycheck after going weeks without.