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Some airports reporting long security wait times as shutdown continues

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport reported that passengers were waiting for nearly 90 minutes to get through its three security checkpoints on Monday.

PORTLAND, Ore. — As security screeners continue to work without pay at airports across the country, some of the nation’s busiest airports are reporting long wait times.

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport reported that passengers were waiting for nearly 90 minutes to get through each of its three security checkpoints on Monday. Dallas' Love Field airport reported a Monday wait of 41 minutes.

"We’ve had waits as long as two-and-a-half hours in the Atlanta area. But I think because of the time in which I flew I did not suffer as much," said Rev. Markel Hutchins, who arrived in Portland from Atlanta on Tuesday morning. "But it was clear to me, reading the faces, listening to, talking to the men and women that were the TSA agents at the Atlanta airport, that is shutdown has taken a toll on them and my hope and prayer is that it ends soon for our safety as well as their sanity.”

The Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday that despite some unusually long wait times, more than 99 percent of passengers nationwide waited less than 30 minutes to get through security on Monday, and 94 percent of the 1.89 million passengers waited less than 15 minutes.

At Portland International Airport, passengers waited for a maximum of 17 minutes in security lines Monday, according to the TSA. The wait was only four minutes for passengers who had TSA Precheck.

"I flew through Minneapolis this morning. It was fine," said Ed Ruediger.

The partial government shutdown has led to missed paychecks for TSA workers across the country, and airports are having to adjust.

Miami International Airport closed one of its terminals for part of the weekend because twice as many TSA workers as usual were calling in sick. The TSA said Monday’s maximum wait time for passengers in Miami was 28 minutes.

The TSA reported a national rate of 6.8 percent of unscheduled absences Monday, compared to a 2.5 percent rate one year ago on the same day. Specific airport call-out information is generally not available to the public out of security concerns.

Credit: TSA
A list of maximum wait times experienced by passengers on Monday, Jan. 14, 2018

"I definitely left earlier because I just anticipated it would be a mess," said Amie Goettig, who arrived in Portland from Minneapolis. She said there was not much of a wait in the security lines. 

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