Abysmal wait times at airports started to ease Monday morning as tens of thousands of Transportation Security Administration workers began receiving back pay after more than a month without a paycheck.
Some TSA employees started seeing part of their overdue income hit their bank accounts Monday morning. Two TSA workers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport told CNN they each received two full paychecks they missed in March due to the partial government shutdown. But they are still waiting for a partial paycheck from the end of February.
It’s not clear when TSA employees will get all the back pay they’re owed. CNN has reached out to TSA and DHS for comment.
About 61,000 TSA employees have been working without pay since a partial government shutdown started February 14. Those workers have missed more than $1 billion in pay, forcing some to max out their credit cards and making it difficult for many to afford food, gas, housing, child care and other needs.
But for travelers, it’s unclear how fast and how drastically the situation will improve. Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, an epicenter of the misery, had 75-minute wait times before dawn Monday — still above typical wait times, but far lower than the hours-long lines from previous weeks.
By contrast, security lines at the major New York City airports were less than 30 minutes early Monday morning. And wait times at Los Angeles International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport dipped into the single digits.
And some major hubs, including Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, have stopped publicizing wait times.
“Due to current federal conditions, passengers are advised to allow at least 4 hours or more for domestic and international screenings,” Hartsfield-Jackson’s website warned Monday morning.
But the lines there appeared to be minimal Monday morning.
Even with long-delayed back pay, the TSA workforce will not be the same. About 500 workers have quit since the partial government shutdown started.
But the number of TSA officers calling out from work has improved in recent days. After 3,450 workers didn’t show up to work Thursday and 3,560 called out on Friday, the number dropped to about 2,800 Saturday, according to DHS data.
While TSA workers return, it’s not clear when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will leave airports. ICE agents were deployed to help address staffing shortages as spring travelers faced hourslong waits at some major hubs. Over the weekend, border czar Tom Homan told CNN, “we’ll see” whether ICE starts leaving airports after TSA agents receive pay.
CNN’s Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.
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