TSA officials warns airport chaos 'will get worse' as agents continue to work unpaid
Topics: Travel
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Topics: Travel
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials have suggested the chaos in many US airports right now is set to 'get worse' before things improve.
While travel is being majorly disrupted because of the ongoing US-Iran war, many other flights are being impacted due to the ongoing funding problem for the Department of Security that doesn't look like it'll be resolved anytime soon.
The agency is in charge of screening passengers and luggage at airports across America, with 50,000 officers said to have foregone a pay check last week and many are continuing to work unpaid.
As Congress continues to be in a war of words over funding, people in the travel industry are concerned as to what the future may entail.
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Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Airlines, told CNBC: "It's inexcusable that our security agents, our frontline agents, that are essential to what we do, are not being paid - and it's ridiculous to see them being used as political chips."
The travel boss went on to say he was 'outraged' by the continued governmental shutdown.
Meanwhile, Adam Stahl, Acting Deputy TSA Administrator, said the situation could well 'get worse before it gets better'.
Bastian continued: "These people missed pay checks just a few months ago. They're missing pay checks again. It's outrageous."
You might remember that just a few months ago a 43-day governmental shutdown halted many flights, causes massive queues at airports and caused general chaos for holidaymakers across the country.
Bastian alongside many other industry leaders previously signed a letter calling on Congress to end the shutdown, which would allow airlines to operate as normal.
The group Airlines for America wrote in a letter: "Americans - who live in your districts and home states - are tired of long lines at airports, travel delays and flight cancellations caused by shutdown after shutdown.
"Yet, once again, air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown. This problem is solvable and there are solutions on the table."
Stahl went on to tell The Hill that it will be smaller airports largely impacted by the current uncertainty.
The acting deputy TSA administrator said: "Small airports may be particularly impacted because they have fewer lanes and they have fewer people, and so, if a certain three or four out of 10 employees call out, we may - to ensure we're not degrading security - we may have to temporarily suspend operations at those airports."