TSA delays during the shutdown were tough for both workers and travelers—but not all the stories were negative.
There’s light at the end of the tunnel for TSA workers, who should receive their first paychecks this week after more than a month, according to a DHS spokesperson.
This may have been one of the toughest periods for both TSA workers and passengers. As “essential workers,” TSA employees had to go without pay throughout the shutdown…on top of another shutdown that had ended just three months earlier. Many weren’t caught up on their bills, and the TSA had record numbers of officers calling out sick; some undoubtedly to work a side job to try to make ends meet after not being paid since February 14th. And that, in turn, made for horrific lines at select TSA checkpoints across the country.
Yet despite all the hardship on both sides, there were a few heroes who stood out to make things better.
Heroes
Tyler Perry
Technically, you’re not supposed to give gifts to TSA workers; it can be considered a bribe and it’s illegal.
But Tyler Perry was willing to give $250,000 to TSA workers at ATL, if the folks in charge could make it work. And they did.
According to local station WSB-TV, Perry, who is based in Atlanta, gave $1,000 gift cards to 250 TSA officers.
Aaron Barker — the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 554 union, representing TSA officers in Georgia — confirmed that Perry’s gift to officers went through a legal process so Perry’s gift could be legally distributed to the federal employees.
Airports
Tyler Perry wasn’t the only one helping out TSA officers. Multiple airports have held food and gift card drives for their respective TSA workers.
Orlando International Airport (MCO) had collected for their officers during the last government shutdown. So starting the process up again was simple enough for them to do. Thousands of residents and even visitors to the greater Orlando area have dropped off canned goods, cleaning supplies, baby supplies and small gift cards that could be distributed to those who had been working without pay since February 14th.
Other airports also developed their own forms of assistance, such as food pantries to help their TSAOs. Some of them included:
- Denver International Airport
- Raleigh-Durham International Airport
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
- Salt Lake City International Airport
- Harry Reid International Airport
- Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
- Eastern Iowa Airport
- Orlando International Airport
- Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
- Reno-Tahoe International Airport
- John Glenn Columbus International Airport
Still other airports set up donation drives and partnered with nonprofits to assist unpaid TSA workers.
Case in point, Chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK) established distribution sites in the Greater Baltimore-Washington and Houston areas to provide free meals to TSA workers impacted by the partial shutdown. WCK, which is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization, is still collecting donations for same.
Line sitters
There have been reports of several people who took advantage of the hours-long queues to start their own pop-up businesses.
Same Old Line Dudes, a placeholding concierge service, has been around since 2012 (we wrote about them in 2018). They typically will stand on line for people – for a price – so they don’t have to wait for the next hot thing, be it tickets to a show, a specialty food, etc.
With hours-long queues at the NYC area airports, Same Old Lines Dudes founder Robert Samuel got his share of inquiries at JFK and LaGuardia for people to stand in their place.
They charged $25 per hour, with a 2-hour minimum. And while they stood in the TSA queue for you, you could go do whatever you wanted – they’d call you when they had about 20 people ahead of them.
“Clients can go have lunch, go explore, do whatever they want,” said Samuel at the time. “I’ll be watching something on Netflix, like ‘Bridgerton,’ or striking up conversations with people in line while I wait.”
Louisiana resident Jimmy Payne, a travel advisor by profession, posted his offer to stand on line for passengers, too:
He apparently did it as a joke but so many people were trying to take him up on his offer than he says he’s now looking into turning it into a legit business.
And Chron reported on Houston resident Steven Dial, owner of Dial Signature Solutions. Like Same Old Line Dudes, Dial’s company has offered line-waiting services in other capacities in the past, but TSA waits at IAH became part of their repertoire too…for a cool $65/hour fee and $6/hour for parking.
Humor
ICE agents at the airport
What is it that people say? If you don’t laugh you’ll cry? That’s how a lot of people felt about the whole TSA situation. Crying because they’re TSA officers who weren’t getting paid. Or passengers who missed their flights. And then when ICE was sent to help at over a dozen airports, that brought about a new level of fear for some — and a source of humor for others.
ICE at the airport has been – shall we say, not super helpful – since they’re not trained to do what TSA officers learn over the course of weeks of training. But the internet has had great fun with roasting the ICE agents who, sorry not sorry, look like they don’t even have facial hair yet.
(Note: video contains some adult language that may be NSFW)
@arianajasmine___
The Onion
Of course, things just wouldn’t be right if The Onion hasn’t added to the fun. They’ve had a handful of headlines about the shutdown:
- How ICE Is Assisting TSA
- Delta Suspends Special Congressional Service Amid TSA Shutdown
- Entire Spring Break Spent In Airport Security
- ICE Agents Swab Passengers’ Hands To Test For Immigrant Residue
At the end of the day, it was a tough situation for everyone involved—but it’s moments like these that show how people can step up, help out, and even find a little humor when things aren’t going as planned.
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