Could your airport close if TSA screeners don’t show up to work? Here’s what experts say

Washington (CNN) — The stalemate in Washington, DC, over funding the Department of Homeland Security has led to hourslong airport security lines and frustrated travelers, but now passengers could see some airports closed altogether, the Transportation Security Administration is warning.

“It’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if call-out rates go up,” TSA’s acting deputy administrator, Adam Stahl, said Tuesday.

While TSA does not technically have the power to unilaterally close an airport, passengers and crews must be screened before planes can take off and if there is no one to do that, they cannot fly.

“We make these determinations on an airport-by-airport basis,” Stahl told CNN Wednesday. “As the weeks continue, our TSA officers, as long as they don’t get paid, they’re going to continue to call out, they can’t afford to come in, and they’re going to quit altogether.”

It’s the latest cascading effect of the monthlong lapse in funding for DHS. Democrats and Republicans are at a standstill in a fight over immigration reform.

TSA workers won’t see another paycheck for work during the shutdown until the department reopens. Union leaders say some TSA workers quit, and many others have taken unscheduled time off since they can’t afford gas or child care needed to go to work.

Which airports could close

More than a third of the TSA staff at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International didn’t show up on Wednesday and more than half of the TSA workers at Houston’s Hobby Airport didn’t come to work last Friday, but those huge hubs are not likely to be at risk of closing because of how much passenger traffic they draw.

It comes down to prioritizing, said John Pistole, former TSA administrator under the Obama administration.

“If I was still the administrator, what I would be asking for are the passenger loads on a daily and weekly basis, and just really look at those and then what the staffing levels are,” Pistole said, noting that determinations would be made based on how busy certain airports are.

TSA has not stopped all screening at any airport so far during the shutdown, and experts say they will exhaust every other possible option before they do.

At Philadelphia International Airport, three of the seven checkpoints were closed Wednesday “to help optimize operations,” the airport said. All gates are accessible from any checkpoint but may require longer walks.

TSA regularly operates a National Deployment Force of screeners who volunteer to be sent to airports that have staff shortages, but Stahl said they have been fully depleted.

In more extreme scenarios, larger airports could pull officers from smaller airports nearby to keep screening going at the big terminals, said Keith Jeffries, former federal security director at Los Angeles International Airport and current vice president of K2 Security Screening Group.

“What (Stahl is) saying, in my opinion, is if staffing shortages continue, staffing will be pulled from smaller airports to staff the larger airports to keep the transportation system from fully,” he said.

‘This is going to get worse before it gets better’

Airports that stay open with limited staffing will see wait times continue to surge, Pistole said. Screening procedures like pat downs could also pose problems if there isn’t enough staff of a particular sex.

Airport closures due to a lack of TSA staff are not something the organizations who operate terminals across the country expect will happen, a source familiar with airport operations told CNN.

“Maybe longer wait times but not closing of airports,” the source said. “At the same time, airports will never compromise security standards.”

Ultimately, Jeffries said, the talk about closing an airport should be a warning for passengers and Congress how bad things could get if action isn’t taken soon.

“The reality of the situation is this is going to get worse before it gets better, if we don’t see any sort of action,” Stahl said.

CNN’s Pete Muntean contributed to this report.

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