More airport disruptions expected as TSA agents quit amid first weekend without full pay

By Tami Luhby, Amanda Musa, CNN

(CNN) — One month into the partial government shutdown, hundreds of Transportation Security Administration workers going without full pay have quit, while others have taken unscheduled time off, prompting more travel headaches as a winter storm slams the Midwest and spring break travelers try to fly.

More than 300 TSA agents have quit, the Department of Homeland Security said in an X post Friday.

This weekend, TSA workers missed their first full paycheck since the partial shutdown began in mid-February after funding for DHS, which oversees TSA, lapsed amid a standoff between Republicans and Democrats over federal immigration reform.

In a letter Sunday, the CEOs of major airlines, including American, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue urged Congress to restore DHS funding and embrace a bipartisan solution to ensure federal aviation workers are paid during shutdowns.

“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,” the letter said.

Late last year, the longest government shutdown on record came to an end after an increasing number of air traffic controllers and TSA screeners did not show up to work. Air traffic controllers are not affected by the ongoing partial shutdown.

Double the callouts

It’s “no surprise” that hundreds of TSA employees have quit this time around, Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement to CNN on Sunday. The union represents more than 46,000 uniformed TSA workers.

“Most Americans would quit their jobs if they didn’t get a paycheck on payday,” Kelley said. Still, many officers continue to work with “care and professionalism,” he added.

Last year, approximately 1,110 officers “separated from TSA in October and November,” according to TSA data shared in February with the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

But the reduced staffing is not just due to workers quitting. The callout rate for unscheduled absences by frontline officers jumped to an average of 6% during the current shutdown, compared with about 2% before government funding lapsed, according to CBS News, citing TSA statistics. CNN has reached out to TSA.

Federal employees are guaranteed to receive back pay once the shutdown ends, according to a 2019 law.

Less money and a lot less help

In the last major shutdown, which affected the entire federal government, more financial help was available to struggling federal workers.

“(The resources) we had in the fall are not available today,” said George Borek, an AFGE union steward and TSA officer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Some employees were able to access short-term, no-interest loans from their financial institutions to help them meet expenses during the impasse. And several nonprofit groups hosted events to provide groceries and household items to affected employees.

Still, some TSA staffers were evicted last fall, and some had their cars repossessed, Kelley said.

This time, several employees interviewed by CNN said they are not getting as much support. Some have opted to withdraw thousands of dollars from their retirement accounts to pay the bills, and others are borrowing from family and friends. And many are trying to figure out what bills can be left unpaid or what expenses can be postponed until they start receiving paychecks again.

Some airports have started asking travelers to assist the TSA officers. Denver International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas are requesting donations of items, including grocery and gas gift cards, non-perishable food, hygiene products and infant supplies.

In Idaho, Boise Airport put out food donation boxes and Pocatello Regional Airport is accepting donations of food, household supplies and gift cards.

A snowstorm, spring break and long lines

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport said at the start of the weekend it has a shortage of TSA workers at security checkpoints “due to impacts from the federal government’s partial shutdown,” and wait times could be up to two hours. It advised passengers traveling Sunday and Monday to arrive at least three hours before their flight.

Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta advised travelers to arrive at least three hours early for flights, citing TSA projections for more than 250,000 travelers over the weekend through Sunday. Last week, the airport reported long lines due to staffing constraints.

A CNN editor traveling from Atlanta on Sunday morning reported waiting 72 minutes at one checkpoint. It took about 40 minutes for a CNN producer to move through Atlanta’s main TSA PreCheck line Sunday evening, which is longer than normal.

A TSA report published in 2024 found more than 99% of passengers waited less than 30 minutes at airport security checkpoints, while 99.4% of passengers in TSA PreCheck lanes waited less than 10 minutes.

At Chicago O’Hare International Airport, a CNN reporter saw chaotic scenes, with passengers shuffling from line to line.

Long lines are not the only concern in the Midwest, where the potential for winter weather is causing cancellations and delays.

More than 20 million people were under winter weather alerts as of Sunday evening, with 1-2 feet of snow possible in the northern Great Lakes.

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport canceled more than 670 flights in and out of the airport on Sunday, while O’Hare and Chicago Midway International Airport canceled more than 1,200 flights, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.

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CNN’s Chris Boyette, Jason Hanna, Aaron Cooper and Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.