{"id":82363,"date":"2019-01-16T14:40:33","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T13:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=82363"},"modified":"2019-01-16T14:41:16","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T13:41:16","slug":"american-airline-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/american-airline-shutdown","title":{"rendered":"The \"Shutdown\": US air transport is in the doldrums"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 14 January<\/strong> has brought a new dimension to the \"shutdown<\/strong> as a result of the tug-of-war between President Trump<\/strong> and the Democrat-majority House of Representatives on the financing of the famous \"wall\" on the border with Mexico. The deadlock over this funding remains total, leading to the federal government closures<\/strong> whose operating budgets are no longer guaranteed.<\/p>\n

For travellers to the United States, one of the first visible consequences was the closure of national parks and federal museums at Washington<\/strong>. But since Monday, the \"shutdown\" has taken a more dramatic turn by affecting the security services at american airports<\/strong>. Safety is guaranteed by the federal government through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)<\/strong>. But since Monday, these agents have not been paid, and as a result, many have been called in sick. Out of 51,000 employees, the TSA reported on Monday a absenteeism rate of 7.6%<\/strong> compared with 3.2% for the same period last year.<\/p>\n

For travellers, this means considerably longer queues to pass through airport security checks, and sometimes chaotic situations in airport terminals. To compensate for the absence of TSA employees, the agency has decided to consolidate passenger screening points. Some passages are closed, and passengers have to go where the agents are working. This meant even longer waiting times. The worst happened atAtlanta airport<\/strong> where the average wait reached 14 January 88 minutes<\/strong> according to TSA statistics, compared with an average of 30 minutes<\/strong> under normal circumstances. For passengers who have paid for an express security check, the waiting time has increased from 10 minutes to 55 minutes... The situation was also tense on many other fronts\u00a0hubs<\/a><\/strong>. Security checks at Houston<\/strong> Intercontinental, Dallas<\/strong> Fort Worth, Miami<\/strong> <\/a>or Washington<\/strong> Dulles was severely affected by the partial closure of the security queues in certain terminals in order to redirect passengers to the screening queues that were still operational.<\/p>\n

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