While traveling around the globe last month, Cal Poly students saw airport delays in attempts to reach spring break destinations.
Cameron Glanville, a political science junior, experienced a two-hour delay on March 24 flying into San Jose from the Big Island, Hawaii.
“It was frustrating,” Glanville said. “But I’m glad the flight wasn’t delayed longer or cancelled.”
Airports across the nation experienced a month of backed-up security lines as TSA workers called out from lack of pay due to a partial government shutdown. This marks the third shutdown in a matter of months, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The shutdown was due to Congress’ dispute over funding to the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Democrats wanted DHS reforms cemented into law before they approved the funding, specifically in response to the killings in Minneapolis in January, according to NPR.
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TSA operations remain impacted by the lapse of appropriations for DHS according to their website, which has not been updated since February 17.
While flying from San Francisco to Munich, Emily Du, a mechanical engineering junior, sat on the tarmac for about three hours and missed her connection from Munich to Budapest.
Although some travelers had a smooth experience while shuffling through security, lengthy TSA lines in other cities can create a domino effect of disruptions.
“TSA was super easy when I went through LAX,” Du said. “Missing our connection threw off our whole trip, which was insane.”
The prevalence of flight connections means that a significant bottleneck in one airport can cause issues throughout the country as other flights arrive late to their planned destinations.
Some airports received a call out rate of about 50%, according to a press release from TSA. However, every airport and traveler was affected differently depending on their final destination.
“The security line probably took five minutes which was fantastic. The problem was that the incoming flight was two hours behind schedule,” Glanville said.
The Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act allocates the annual budget to the DHS, according to Congress. Critics of the bill were refusing to approve more funding without providing further restraints to ICE, resulting in a partial shutdown to DHS agencies, which began on Feb. 14.
Consequently, nearly 61,000 employees missed paychecks for a historic 44 days, according to the TSA press release.
“Working without pay forced more than 500 officers to leave TSA and thousands were forced to call out,” said Acting TSA Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis to PBS.
Reena Nagra, an animal science junior, flew on March 22 from San Francisco to Budapest with a connection in Copenhagen and experienced no delays. While flying home on the following Sunday, she experienced only a 10 minute delay leaving Budapest.
“I flew Scandinavia Airlines, I actually really like them,” Nagra said. “They were so nice and organized, it made it so easy.”
The financial delay was so drastic that various workers were sleeping in their car to save gas money and even selling their blood and plasma to make ends meet, according to the TSA press release. The Senate passed the bill with the amendment to fulfill appropriations and back pay for certain DHS agencies — such as the TSA and Secret Service — with the exception of ICE and Border Patrol on March 27. The House followed suit, and the partial shutdown ended that same day.
President Trump also signed an executive order that same day to redirect current DHS funds to TSA workers’ pockets, according to the White House. The bill must still be signed by the president and only guarantees funding through May 22; because the amendment halts funds to ICE, critics are uncertain if Trump will allow the bill to pass with smooth sailing.
“I think if the bill does get passed it will inevitably take a couple of weeks for things to calm down because it won’t be something overnight,” Glanville said. “I am hoping with the House and Senate coming to a resolution, things will get back to normal because it has disrupted people’s lives over the last month.”
