Skift Take
Not that we would complain with less TSA, but it would only end up delaying more of our travel plans and airport wait times, which will cause real pain. And then the more serious matter of less security.
Hours-long lines and flight delays at U.S. airports may be among the results if Congress and President Barack Obama don’t agree to stop automatic spending cuts at government agencies, according to a U.S. House analysis.
The Transportation Security Administration would reduce its front-line workforce, including seven-day furloughs for airport screeners during the fiscal year, adding as much as an hour to lines at security checkpoints, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee said in a report today (embedded below).
Customs and Border Protection workers would have to take 12 days to 14 days off without pay during the fiscal year, increasing peak wait times for international travelers by three hours or more at busy airports, the lawmakers said. Air-traffic controllers and other Federal Aviation Administration workers would take about 11 days of mandatory time off, they said.
“Travel could become the face of the sequester,” said Geoff Freeman, chief operating officer and executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association. “There are few areas that Americans are going to be touched more directly.”
Next month’s deadlin
