With the govt. shutdown has anyone seen anything negative with TSA?

[jujubiee4]

As someone who is about to take two flights im more concerned about safety. I was at the store earlier and
heard a guy saying he was heading to his TSA job now AFTER he just worked 7 hours at an Amazon warehouse.
He said he had to pick up the 2nd job ASAP for bills. Yikes! He is doing security secreening after working
15-16 hours?

I hope this ends soons.

 

[iivye]

We flew last week STL-PHL round trip and had no issues at either airport.

 

[Tiggerette]

Not a negative, just a heads up. Went through MCO terminal A this morning (Tuesday) started at 6:07am and got completely through at 6:37am.
We had the K9 unit working, and breezed through once we got to the working unit. We left our shoes on, and did not take out our liquids and laptops, but your experience from MCO may be different form mine in that exact moment. Had we not had the K9 unit working, I think it could have been a 45-50min wait to go through the usual procedure with shoes, liquids, laptops, etc. Safe travels everyone, and thank you to the government employees who are working through this shutdown. Thank you!

 

[JimMIA]

You will read some stories about a "terminal shutdown" in Miami , so I want to provide some local perspective.

Because of TSA people calling in sick, TSA shut down one security checkpoint at MIA's Terminal G from 1 PM to midnight, I believe. That is the terminal used by United and several very small carriers, and only has 12 flights daily during the affected times.

Outgoing flights are not affected; they just leave from other terminals. Incoming flights are not affected at all. They still debark at G, and all baggage services for incoming passengers are unchanged -- so there are no glitches with incoming baggage.

 

[goofy4tink]

Thanks for keeping this travel related, keeping politics out of it!!!

 

[Lefty33]

Had no issues at MCO this past Saturday morning leaving for PHL. All lanes open and security took 10-15 minutes.

 

[Lewisc]

According to radio news MCO had security wait times under 30 minutes, sounds normal. Other airports have wait times over an hour. Employees working for free, or maybe an IOU, may have an issue budgeting commutation and child care costs.

Issues may vary from day to day and by airport. TSA pre clear may be closed and or combined with regular passengers.

Edited to add Delays at Atlanta security have been reported as 90 minutes regular, 40 minutes pre clear.

JMO but an employee who is deemed essential, and is required to work during a shutdown, should get paid.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Sunday 1-6 in Louisville=walk on. Have waited up to 40 minutes in the past.
Sunday 1-13 in Orlando=exactly 8 people in front of us. Shortest wait we've ever had at MCO.

Knowing that government "shutdowns" are of regular occurrence now, one would think any federal employee would already be planning on the next one to occur.

 

[daisy2013]

Sunday 1-6 in Louisville=walk on. Have waited up to 40 minutes in the past.
Sunday 1-13 in Orlando=exactly 8 people in front of us. Shortest wait we've ever had at MCO.

Knowing that government "shutdowns" are of regular occurrence now, one would think any federal employee would already be planning on the next one to occur.

shutdowns have not been a regular occurence until the current administration. The last one was in 2013 and the one prior to that was 1995-1996. Federal employees should not have to plan on not getting paid for a job. What you will see is people leaving for higher paying private sector jobs. Most govt employees are not rich; they rely on their paycheck just like most working adults. The current administration has said they will keep the govt shutdown for months or even years. How long should they plan for?

 

[cmwade77]

According to radio news MCO had security wait times under 30 minutes, sounds normal. Other airports have wait times over an hour. Employees working for free, or maybe an IOU, may have an issue budgeting commutation and child care costs.

Issues may vary from day to day and by airport. TSA pre clear may be closed and or combined with regular passengers.

Edited to add Delays at Atlanta security have been reported as 90 minutes regular, 40 minutes pre clear.

JMO but an employee who is deemed essential, and is required to work during a shutdown, should get paid.

Clear will most likely remain open because they are not TSA agents checking your ID, but a private company independently paid and they help reduce the strain on the TSA. You may find Clear getting busier or perhaps even being used as a tool to help keep lines moving by getting them to offer services free of charge, but I wouldn't expect them to close.

 

[cmwade77]

shutdowns have not been a regular occurence until the current administration. The last one was in 2013 and the one prior to that was 1995-1996. Federal employees should not have to plan on not getting paid for a job. What you will see is people leaving for higher paying private sector jobs. Most govt employees are not rich; they rely on their paycheck just like most working adults. The current administration has said they will keep the govt shutdown for months or even years. How long should they plan for?

At some point airports will simply move to private security instead of using TSA and eliminate this problem if the shutdown continues. They legally can do this, but it requires approval from the department of transportation and that might be the sticking point if the government is shut down, but much like in California where flyers would end up needing a passport, I would imagine Trump would step in and force a decision at each airport to keep air traffic moving because once it stops, the shutdown will gain enough public opposition that it will end almost instantly and he is well aware of that fact and won't have it. I am not getting into politics of it that is right or wrong, simply stating the facts as I see it.

 

[cmwade77]

But how would they pay to keep their lights on in the mean time? Can they qualify for food stamps?

Only until February when the food stamp program runs out of it's current Federal funding.

 

[cmwade77]

Nobody is working for nothing.
I understand it is not pleasant to not get paid on time, but they will get paid retroactively. It is the deal they agreed to when taking the job.

They MIGHT get paid retroactively, the bill that states this still hasn't been signed into law from what I understand.

 

[cmwade77]

At some point, if it last long enough, your power company won't keep your lights on without getting paid, Kroger won't just give you groceries and the banks won't just overlook car payments needing to be made. I mean, how long can you work, not get paid and survive?

This should really be a wake-up call for everyone (myself included) to get savings in order. It is strongly recommended that you have at least a years worth of salary in savings. Yes, it is difficult to do, but really we all should be doing it, then if something like this happened in our life we would be able to deal with it for at least a year.

 

[AngiTN]

Sunday 1-6 in Louisville=walk on. Have waited up to 40 minutes in the past.
Sunday 1-13 in Orlando=exactly 8 people in front of us. Shortest wait we've ever had at MCO.

Knowing that government "shutdowns" are of regular occurrence now, one would think any federal employee would already be planning on the next one to occur.

Knowing about it and being paid enough to plan for it are two very different things. Some of these are $30k a year jobs and these folks already stretch paycheck to paycheck. There's nothing to put asside

Clear will most likely remain open because they are not TSA agents checking your ID, but a private company independently paid and they help reduce the strain on the TSA. You may find Clear getting busier or perhaps even being used as a tool to help keep lines moving by getting them to offer services free of charge, but I wouldn't expect them to close.

I think PP meant Pre-Check, not Clear. But that's my best guess.

 

[dakotix]

Not related to TSA but a friend of my brother is a gov't worker. She just lost her husband (heart attack) 3 weeks ago. She is in her 50s and there was no will. So now all of her husband's assets are stuck in probate and she's not getting paid either because of the shut down. Very sad.

 

[cmwade77]

Knowing about it and being paid enough to plan for it are two very different things. Some of these are $30k a year jobs and these folks already stretch paycheck to paycheck. There's nothing to put asside

You would be surprised how much we all spend needlessly that we could indeed set aside. For example, I know many people in this salary range that go to Starbucks every morning and get a $4 cup of coffee. This adds up to around $1,500 a year and realistically, you don't need a cup of coffee every day, you may want a cup of coffee every day, but you don't need it. Or for those that smoke, give up 10% of what you smoke. Watch food purchases closer and don't just throw away stuff because it is past it's best by date on the package and yes I know many people do this, it simply means it is its freshest by that date, not that it will go bad on that date, of course use common sense and if milk smells bad, don't drink it for example. Additionally, you can simply put the change in your pocket into a jar at the end of each day, this adds up as well. I am not saying they will be rich or be able to live a long time off the results, but it can help a little.

All of that being said, I think one thing this has shown is that the government truly values our security so little that they are willing to pay such low wages to the people who are supposed to be keeping us safe and that needs to change, but that is another story.

I think PP meant Pre-Check, not Clear. But that's my best guess.

From what I understand TSA is not only keeping pre-check open, but sending more people that way to help keep lines to a minimum.

 

[cmwade77]

Not related to TSA but a friend of my brother is a gov't worker. She just lost her husband (heart attack) 3 weeks ago. She is in her 50s and there was no will. So now all of her husband's assets are stuck in probate and she's not getting paid either because of the shut down. Very sad.

That stinks, hope things improve for her soon.

 

[AngiTN]

From what I understand TSA is not only keeping pre-check open, but sending more people that way to help keep lines to a minimum.

Yes, I posted the same up thread. Which would also explain a 40 min wait for it, which PP mentioned

As to budgets and what folks to can save, I sure can't judge what someone else should do. If you think everyone that makes $30k a year can save a years worth of pay up then we'll just have to disagree. Some spend on silly stuff? Sure. But a family of 5 with 1 income of $30k, I daresay they aren't doing that

 

[gwynne]

This should really be a wake-up call for everyone (myself included) to get savings in order. It is strongly recommended that you have at least a years worth of salary in savings. Yes, it is difficult to do, but really we all should be doing it, then if something like this happened in our life we would be able to deal with it for at least a year.

Certainly we should all be saving, short and long term. Certainly all of us, including the gov't, should never stiff folks we owe money to. There is zero excuse for shrugging, refusing to pay money owed to employees on time.