The Transportation Security Agency released statistics Tuesday showing an unusually high rate of agents taking unscheduled leave nationwide.
TSA screeners are expected to work without pay due to a partial government shutdown now in its 25th day, and many are now simply not showing up. As a result, long lines and wait times as well as terminal closures have been reported at airports nationwide. There are also rising concerns about security, stoked by reports of a woman recently passing through a TSA screening checkpoint with a loaded gun before her flight from Atlanta to Japan.
On Tuesday, TSA announced it will now post daily statistics, and in its first press release the agency said it “experienced a national rate of 6.8 percent of unscheduled absences compared to a 2.5 percent rate one year ago on the same day, Monday, January 15, 2018.”
That is slightly lower than the 7.6 percent rate TSA spokesman Michael Bilello tweeted on Monday.
TSA also shared specific checkpoint wait-time data at the nation’s busiest airport, including the one at the top of the list: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Atlanta Airport tweeted Monday that travelers might experience wait times up to three hours. TSA said in its press release that the maximum average wait time there on Monday was 88 minutes and 55 minutes for those with TSA Precheck clearances, which are supposed to get them through security faster.
[Read more: TSA: Increased sick call-outs doesn’t compromise airport security]
While the biggest airports continue to struggle, TSA said the national average wait times “are within normal TSA times of 30 minutes for standard lanes and 10 minutes for TSA Pre Check.”
Nationwide, TSA said it screened 1.89 million passengers on Monday and that 99.1 percent of passengers waited less than 30 minutes, 94.3 percent of passengers less than 15 minutes, and TSA Precheck passengers on average waited less than 10 minutes.
“Due to security concerns, specific airport call-out information is generally not available to the public,” TSA said. “Aviation security remains an essential priority, and TSA does not want to create any perception that an adversary could use specific information to determine possible vulnerabilities.”
The government shutdown stems from a political fight over border wall funding. Funding for multiple federal agencies, including the Homeland Security Department of which TSA is a subagency, will be contingent on whether President Trump and the GOP-led Senate can come to an agreement with the Democrat-led House, which has so far refused to accept the president’s demand for roughly $5.7 billion for border security to be attached.
