Due to the shutdown in the US, more and more security personnel are staying away from airports at work. The transport safety authority TSA said that on Sunday ten percent of the staff unscheduled appeared to the service.
The waiting time at the checkpoints would be at most major airports in the United States in the normal context of up to 30 minutes: at New York LaGuardia airport at 29 minutes, at Tampa airport at 28 minutes, at O'Hare airport in Chicago 27 and in Miami at 26 minutes. At the airports in Minneapolis and New Orleans, however, the average waiting time at checkpoints was 35 and 45 minutes above normal.
The TSA is one of the authorities whose funding ran out due to the budget dispute between US President Donald Trump and the Democrats. The security staff at airports has been working for more than four weeks without pay. The inspectors belong to the federal employees in the USA, whose income is comparatively low. "Many employees report that they can not come to work because of financial constraints," explains the TSA. In recent days, the absence of security personnel according to TSA data was still well below ten percent.
Some 800,000 US government employees are on forced leave due to the stalemate of parts of the government or have to work without pay. The latter concerns those federal employees whose work is classified as "essential" so that public life does not come to a standstill - for example, the security personnel at airports.
US media reports that some of the state employees concerned are forced to look for another income or to buy food on bars.