After weeks of airport security lines that stretched into existential crises, a shocking development has occurred: when you pay people, they show up for work. Who knew?
Yes, the endless queues at U.S. airports are finally shrinking, all thanks to a presidential order that got Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers their much-deserved paychecks. Suddenly, those "arrive three hours early" warnings are starting to feel less like a dire prophecy and more like, well, a suggestion.
Take New York's JFK, for instance. Wait times are now blissfully under 30 minutes. Houston's George Bush Intercontinental and Baltimore's Thurgood Marshall airports are also seeing lines that no longer resemble a theme park on a national holiday. Progress!
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Start Your News DetoxNot Every Airport is a Zen Garden Yet
Before you start planning your impromptu weekend getaway, a caveat: not every airport is back to pre-shutdown efficiency. New York's LaGuardia, bless its heart, was still sporting 90-minute lines at Terminal B around 1 PM. Apparently, even the promise of a paycheck can't instantly untangle all of LaGuardia's unique charms.
The backstory here is, of course, a political saga. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had promised payments as early as Monday, following President Trump's order. This came after House Republicans hit the brakes on a Senate bill that would have funded most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where the TSA resides.
During the standoff, TSA agents decided that working for free was a less-than-ideal career path. Call-out rates soared, hitting 12.35% on one Friday and 10.59% the very next day. Which, if you think about it, is a pretty polite way of saying, "We're not working until we get paid."
According to DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis, over 500 officers had already packed their bags and left the TSA, with thousands more simply not showing up. While the agency pointed fingers at Democrats, it's worth noting that Republicans had voted against funding the TSA nine times. Eventually, House Republicans did vote to fully fund DHS for 60 days, a move Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer promptly declared "dead on arrival."
So, while your airport experience might be less soul-crushing, the political gridlock continues its epic, 45-day run. And despite the shorter lines, airline stocks on Wall Street took a hit, with United, Delta, American, and Southwest all seeing drops. Because apparently, even when things get better, the market still finds a way to be dramatic.
