By D’Asya Nelson, Zachary Bandler and Sabrina Tevolini
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writers
The current government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security has led to four- or five-hour waits in TSA lines throughout the country, but at Baltimore-Washington International Airport on Tuesday, flyers went through security in no time.
“Actually, on the way here, I was listening to NPR, and I heard that in Houston, it’s eight hours you have to wait,” said Olga Krajweska, a Pennsylvania resident who arrived at BWI four hours early for her flight to Alaska. “I didn’t know how it would look like, so I was glad that I was earlier.”
While flyers were relieved by the shorter lines, BWI officials said they closed two domestic terminals because many TSA agents did not show up for work.
“It’s bad. People are quitting,” Lamar Cobb, BWI’s TSO union president, told WBAL-TV. “People are getting eviction notices.”
Marvin Sponaugle, the union’s vice president, told the television station that TSA agents who had not been paid in weeks are feeling the stress.
The open TSA lines at BWI only had 10 to 15 people going through them at a time on Tuesday afternoon, with posted wait times set at one to five minutes.
BWI still advised travelers to arrive three hours before their flight.
Krajweska said she noticed the TSA lines weren’t as long as she was told upon arriving. She said the only line she noticed was to check her bags.
Colorado natives Jeff and Laura English arrived at the Denver International Airport at 5:30 a.m. for a flight to Baltimore to visit their daughter.
“We left 45 minutes earlier than we normally would. Just in case,” Jeff English said.
“But we didn’t need it,” Laura English added. “It just gives us more time to have an expensive breakfast.”
The Englishs and Krajweska weren’t the only travelers taking extra precautions. Other travelers said they have invested in CLEAR, TSA PreCheck or a Global Entry Pass to ensure they don’t miss their flight. What was once thought to be a luxury upgrade is now considered a necessity to travel.
Erin Sullivan and her family were traveling to Salt Lake City and purchased TSA PreCheck and Global Entry in anticipation of the extended wait times.
The Sullivan family wasn’t alone in using the PreCheck as a precaution. For every person in the general line, there were two to three in PreCheck.
The Trump administration announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be deployed at major airports to assist with the delays at TSA. BWI was not on that list.
Flyers who were interviewed at BWI had mixed feelings about ICE agents at airports.
“We’re not really concerned because my husband is an American citizen. I mean, it’s just to scare people,” Sullivan said.
“Stuff like that brings just a chaos to this,” Krajweska said.