SEATTLE — It’s day 34 of the government shutdown, and if you are flying soon, you should probably expect to run into delays and cancellations.
Officials say if federal airport employees stop showing up, their operations will slow down.
Nationwide, many airports are already seeing that happen.
Over the weekend, several airports put ground stops in place as they didn’t have enough people to safely operate.
Some Seattle passengers say they are worried the delays and cancellations will continue to pile up.
“I’ve got my mother and family coming in for Thanksgiving and she’s holding off purchasing tickets because she’s afraid things might get worse by then, it’s already sort of impacting lives,” Ben said.
Here in Seattle, TSA agents are still working day in and day out with no paychecks.
“I appreciate them, I don’t know if I would do the same thing, I feel like it’s a matter of time there’s only so long you can go without a paycheck obviously,” Ben said.
Other passengers say they were expecting more delays during their trip to Hawaii, but were grateful that wasn’t the case.
“We went TSA pre-check and it all was fast in fact we had to sit for a long time,” another passenger said.
Passengers tell us it’s not if, but when, the shutdown impacts SEA.
Port of Seattle officials are helping federal workers as much as they can. A food pantry is set up for any airport employee who needs help with household or food items.
You can see ways to donate those items here: https://www.portseattle.org/blog/resource-list-federal-workers
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