Long queues snaked outside airport terminals as travelers found themselves trapped in an escalating travel crisis, prompting airline leaders to press the White House to resolve the government shutdown.
The increasing delays led at least ten airline executives to collectively send a letter to the White House, appealing for an end to the ‘simply unacceptable’ shutdown.
“If you could say a prayer we make our flight,” a frustrated traveler wrote from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on threads at 4 a.m. on Monday.
“This is the TSA line outside of the airport. I’ve never seen it this long!!” they added.
The traveler accompanied their message with a photo showing passengers with luggage, lined up outside Terminal 1, awaiting security checks.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, another passenger highlighted similar scenes, posting another photo of frustrated travelers as lines extended beyond the airport.
‘If you’re traveling this morning through ATL get there early,’ the passenger wrote at around 7am on Monday morning.
‘TSA precheck, digital ID, clear – everything is wrapped around and outside.’
Travelers have been left waiting in line for hours across the country amid the government shutdown, as TSA agents go unpaid and 300 officers quit. Passengers seen lining up outside of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Passengers in Atlanta are pictured lining up outside of the airport to go through security on Monday morning
CEOs from ten airlines – Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines Group Inc, Alaska Air Group Inc, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways and United Parcel Service – signed a letter on Saturday calling for the end of the shutdown
Meanwhile in Newark, Terminal C saw lines reaching around 40 minutes through security and long lines amid the shutdown.
CEOs from ten airlines – Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines Group Inc, Alaska Air Group Inc, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways and United Parcel Service – signed a letter on Saturday calling for the end of the shutdown.
‘Americans – who live in your districts and home states – are tired of long lines at airports, travel delays and flight cancellations caused by shutdown after shutdown,’ the letter read.
‘Yet, once again, air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown,’ the CEOs said. A 43-day shutdown only last fall saw disruptions, delays and around 10 percent of flights cut at major airports by the Federal Aviation Administration.
‘This problem is solvable and there are solutions on the table.’
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers had to forgo their first paycheck on Friday since immigration raid disputes between Democrats and Republicans jumpstarted the political standstill.
‘TSA officers just receiver $0 paychecks,’ the letter continued. ‘That is simply unacceptable.’
‘It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, put gas in the car and pay rent when you are not getting paid.’
Johnny Jones, Secretary-Treasurer of AFGE TSA Council 100 and a Dallas-based TSA worker, told USA Today: ‘Numerous employees have reported to me that their bank accounts are at zero or negative.’
American Airlines Group and American Airlines CEO Robert Isom was one of the 10 executives to sign the letter to congress demanding the end of the government shutdown
Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian signed the letter sent to congress on Saturday
Lines at TSA checkpoints across the country are taking up to three hours to get through due to the agency losing funding. Chaos at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is pictured
Lines stretched outside the terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Sunday
‘No funds for daycare, no funds for food. They just want to know why the hell they can’t get paid when we have money to shoot missiles into other countries,’ Jones added.
Jones said many officers have taken on other roles within airports aside from TSA work, with some ‘staying at the airport, not leaving.’
‘They’re sleeping in their car to conserve gas, consolidating their work life.’
TSA reported that around 300 officers had quit, with rates of calling out from work more than doubling since the shutdown and airports seeing more than 50 percent of their workforce absent at times.
‘Enough is enough,’ they wrote on X on March 14. ‘No more playing politics with the lives of Americans.’
TSA previously told USA Today in a statement that, amid nearly three hour wait times at some major airports, there were massive delays during ‘peak travel’ and many missed flights.
‘These frontline heroes received only partial paychecks earlier this month and now face their first full missed paycheck, leading to financial hardship, absences and crippling staffing shortages,’ the statement said.
Many airports, including the Denver International Airport, have started asking for donations and holding charity drives to assist employees who are missing out on their pay.
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan joined the airline execs in signing the open letter to congress on Saturday
More than 300 TSA agents have quit their jobs because they have not been paid, the agency announced on Saturday. TSA agents are pictured arriving to work
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby signed the letter to congress with nine other airline executives
Airline CEOs raised concerns for the peak upcoming travel, including spring break and the FIFA World Cup 2026, and said ‘it’s past time for the government to make sure that’ airport workers are paid.
Airlines for America, an industry trade group, has projected that 171 million people will fly between March 1 and April 30, marking a four percent increase from the same period last year.
Executives asked that Congress pass three measures that would see workers paid no matter the status of the government.
TSA has been under ’emergency operating status’ since February 22, due to the partial government shutdown that has left the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its subsidiary agencies without funding.
On February 22, the DHS announced that TSA’s ‘resources are being consolidated to prioritize essential security operations and focus personnel on detecting and countering threats.’
The shutdown was sparked from backlash against the Trump Administration over ICE raids, particularly after the deaths of two Americans in Minnesota during protests.
The Homeland Security Department saw its funding lapse on February 13 as Congress couldn’t reach an agreement on reforming immigration enforcement, as Democrats call for bodycams, abolishing masks, judicial warrants for arrests and the ability to sue DHS for alleged misconduct.
Republicans have rejected the propositions.
The Homeland Security Department saw funding lapse as Congress couldn’t reach an agreement on reforming immigration enforcement, as Democrats call for bodycams, abolishing masks, judicial warrants for arrests and the ability to sue DHS for alleged misconduct
On Truth Social, President Trump shared a post that said: ‘Thank you to Johnny Jones and all of our GREAT TSA Agents who are going to work but not being paid because the Radical Left Democrats refuse to honor the deal that was approved and voted on in Congress.
‘They want your money to go to “Border Criminals, Murderers, foreign Drug Dealers, and some of the worst people on earth.” They don’t want it to go to you. Keep fighting for the USA. GO TO WORK! I promise that I will never forget you!!! President DJT.’
Odds on Polymarket and Kalshi forecast the partial shutdown lasting 59 days, which would make it the longest shutdown – partial or otherwise – on record by a large margin.
