There’s a Gov’t Shutdown & I’ve Got 7 Flights Next Week. Here’s My Plan – What Do You Think?

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If you pay attention to the news, you’re well aware that we’re in the midst of a government shutdown. This causes all sorts of strife for millions of people, be it due to lack of services, lack of work, lack of being paid to work, you name it.

In the world of travel, several things are taking place because of the shutdown:

• 25% of FAA employees are expected to be furloughed (but about 33,500 will stay on the job during the shutdown because their work is “necessary to protect life and property,” have salaries paid from accounts not funded with appropriations, or that are otherwise needed to comply with the law).
• Air traffic controllers are working without pay during the shutdown because they’re considered “essential” workers.
• TSA officers are also working for free right now, since their jobs are considered to be “essential.”

Meanwhile, I’m in the midst of JetBlue’s 25for25 promotion (14 airports down, 11 to go!) and have 7 flights scheduled this upcoming Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday (not all 7 will be added towards my 25. Some are, essentially, positioning flights. 4 of the 7 will “count.”).

My first thought was to reschedule the flights to another time. But I’d really rather not do that:

• I’ve got a LOT on my plate this October/November/December. I’d be hard-pressed to put off the flights needed to add these 4 JetBlue airports to my list of “25.”.
• Who knows how long the shutdown will last? The last, from late 2018 to early 2019, was 35 days – the longest in our country’s history. TSA and ATC workers are supposed to keep working but I have no doubt things will start to get uglier – sickouts, etc. – as time goes on. If I fly now, I’m thinking (hoping?) there will be fewer hiccups than if I were to wait.

My plan

While flying some of these 25for25 flights, I’ve been able to stay airside for a good portion of the day. That won’t be the case with this “JetBlue Junket” – I’ll have to exit 2 airports to stay at hotels overnight (I suppose I could sleep at those airports – BOS and BUF – but both require PAX to exit the airside during the overnight….so I’d still have to go through TSA again, anyway. So I may as well stay at a hotel and sleep, you know, comfortably).

I’ll also have to take public transportation from Islip (ISP) to JFK on one day, which, again, means leaving the airport entirely.

Getting through TSA

For some background info, I have both TSA PreCheck and CLEAR. Here’s my plan for each airport’s TSA checkpoint that I’ll hit during this latest “JetBlue Junket”:

MCO

JetBlue is at Terminal C, which is, thankfully, rarely super crowded. I plan to use my CLEAR and TSA PreCheck, and I don’t think I’ll experience a super-long delay. But I’ll give myself an extra 30 minutes or so, juuuust to be on the safe side.

JFK

CLEAR is at Terminal 4 of JFK, and JetBlue is at Terminal 5. Whomp whomp. That being said, depending on the timing of public transportation, I should arrive at JFK a good 3 hours before my flight, so I’ll have built-in extra time for the TSA security line.

BUF

CLEAR is at Buffalo Niagara Int’l Airport. The airport isn’t huge, and I doubt it’ll be super crowded in the wee hours of the morning that I’ll be there. But I’ll give myself a little extra time, just in case.

BOS

CLEAR probably won’t help me at BOS, since CLEAR is only at Terminals A, B and E, and JetBlue is at Terminal C (I know there’s a walking path from both B and E to C but really, BOS is huge…the time it’d take me to walk from one or the other to C, I may as well stay in the regular PreCheck line).

Air Traffic Control

Obviously, I’ll have no control over ATC whatsoever. I’m going to cross my fingers VERY tightly that for the layovers where I only have 60 or 90 minutes between flights, ATC won’t slow us down too much. That could potentially make for some major headaches.

To help with potential headaches, I’m going to make sure I have an extra change of clothes with me (in case I wind up needing to stay somewhere overnight unexpectedly). I’ll also make sure to use the lavatory on the plane about 10 minutes before we start our descent, so I don’t have to “go” when we finally do land. I’ll also have a supply of protein bars and make sure my water bottle is full, so, again, I don’t need to stop to get stuff to eat or drink when we land, in case my turnaround time is minimal due to delayed takeoff or landing.

What am I missing?

Again, I’m not TOO too concerned, because we’re still early into the shutdown and so far reports suggest minimal issues. But still… Anything else I should be thinking about? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary