A major Midwestern airport has largely avoided the long security lines plaguing other travel hubs throughout the country as its Transportation Security Administration employees continue to show up for work even though they are not being paid.
The average wait times at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport have consistently remained at 20 minutes or less since the beginning of March, though on March 18, wait times did reach nearly an hour at Terminal 2, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Those amounts are minuscule when compared to other airports, like George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, where passengers had to wait nearly five hours to get through security on Tuesday.
At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, travelers were also advised to allow ‘at least four hours or more’ for security screenings for both domestic and international flights.
The chaotic scenes come as more than 400 TSA officers quit their jobs since Congress failed to renew DHS funding on February 14, requiring around 61,000 TSA employees to work without pay since January 31.
Nearly 12 percent of TSA officers nationwide called off work on Sunday – the highest rate since the shutdown began last month.
To help make up for the staffing shortage, President Donald Trump took the extraordinary step over the weekend of ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to provide security at 14 airports, including those hardest hit by TSA staffing shortages.
But Minneapolis-St Paul was not one of them, as its TSA officers continue to show up for work.
Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport has largely avoided the extraordinarily long lines plaguing other major hubs across the country
Transportation Security Administration officers are continuing to show up for work at the Minneapolis-St Paul airport, despite not being paid
The average wait times at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport have consistently remained at 20 minutes or less since the beginning of March
Prior to the shutdown, between 15 to 20 TSA employees on average called off work each day at MSP, amounting to less than 10 percent of the workforce, Sharif Mehanna, secretary of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 899 told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
In recent weeks, that figure has risen to 40 to 50 each day.
However, other workers have since picked up overtime shifts to fill the gaps and keep operations moving smoothly at the airport.
‘We want to keep the American people flying,’ said Vincent Longo, a TSA agent who works checkpoints and as a baggage screener. ‘We look for bombs in bags and firearms and knives and other prohibited items.
‘I like my job,’ he added. ‘I know how important it is.’
Neal Gosman, a union leader and security officer with 22 years on the job, also told the Star-Tribune that employees keep showing up for work because ‘we have a job we want to do.’
He said he is grateful for the public support as passengers bring the TSA agents food and offer their support, as well as for what he said may be the biggest reason workers are staying on the job.
‘We watch out for each other,’ Gosman asserted.
At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas passengers had to wait nearly five hours to get through security on Tuesday
Passengers are seen waiting in long TSA lines at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday
They are being spurred on by the MSP Airport Foundation, which is accepting nonperishable food items and gift cards from passengers to be used for gas, groceries and other essential items.
‘This is right up our alley,’ David Rivard, the airport’s marketing and communications director, said of the effort.
‘The men and women of the TSA are the utmost professionals. We believe that people of MSP help make the airport a world-leading airport.’
Kyle Potter, of Thrifty Travel, now says the low wait times at the Minnesota airport are a testament to its dedicated staff, noting that efforts like those by the MSP Airport Foundation have given workers incentive to show up.
The passengers going through MSP are lucky, Potter said, but ‘no way can this continue.’
President Donald Trump has deployed ICE officers to assist with the long lines at some of the hardest hit airports, including George Bush Intercontinental Airport (pictured)
TSA workers at the airport are already starting to feel the strain, with some receiving letters threatening eviction if they do not get caught up on rent, Mehanna said.
‘You can only push people so far,’ he argued. ‘Morale is very low. People are hanging on by a thread.’
Officers are now borrowing money from family members, depleting their savings accounts or raiding insurance policies to get by, according to Longo.
He noted that even when the partial government shutdown ends, it would take at least two to three weeks before any backpay arrives.
‘It’s a time in the desert,’ the TSA agent bemoaned, claiming US lawmakers ‘are holding us hostage and don’t seem to care about the workers.
‘How can you say you are politicians for the American people, yet not pass budgets to pay the American people?’ he asked, rhetorically. ‘We are all taxpayers.’
As the partial government shutdown now continues, Delta Air Lines announced on Tuesday that members of Congress and their staff will no longer get access to a dedicated airline help desk that fast-tracks bookings, changes and support.
Perks included airport escorts and red coat services. But for the time being, while its Capitol Desk reservation line remains active, lawmakers will ‘be treated like any other passenger according to their SkyMiles status,’ the company said in a statement.
‘Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,’ it said.
‘Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.’
