Easter and Passover Travel. FIFA Games.

The FIFA World Cup games don't start until mid June: plenty of time yet for the situation to be resolved. Of larger FIFA concern are the very expensive visa bonds required of players and their families and fans from impacted nations. I've not read that an agreement for those to be waived for those affected has been reached. (Intended to be a travel-related comment)

Pretty sure you'll be fine for Paris in 6 weeks.

BostonPhil. No reason to panic. I’ve flown quite a bit in the last few weeks and all has gone well. Take a deep breath and relax.

Although World Cup matches aren’t imminent, there are concerns that replacing the more than 400+ TSA agents who have quit their jobs, and training new hires, will impact air travel. There are also potential attendees who may be hesitant to encounter ICE agents in airports because of their history of violence towards citizens.

It’s always a “hostage” type situation. Last time is was health insurance subsidies and food assistance. This time it’s air travel, in both a matter of convenience and safety. And a war of choice rages for ???. In that respect, it’s becoming evident that it’s possible to make a bad thing even worse. Should have known that based on history.

Less than 2% of the US population claims Judaism as their religion. The number of practicing Jews is probably lower. This year, because of all the targeting going on, they may be a bit more reluctant to travel. They won’t be contributing much to the problems at the airport.

The longest government shutdown in history was 43 days, but they generally only last a week or two. The current one is now 39 days. The other big difference is that they are typically total shutdowns, this one is only Homeland Security. Since it’s unique, who knows how long it will last, but my uneducated guess is it will be over in a week or ten days.

As far as foreign visitors not liking the temporary security measures in the airports. So far passengers haven’t had any reported problems. The CNN report from Atlanta was positive and a local Atlanta news station also said the situation in Atlanta had improved in the last 24 hours and reported no problems between passengers and security. That’s the only airport I have found firsthand accounts from. But if the foreign visitors want to stay away, those World Cup tickets will be bought by someone else.

As for the TSA that quit. There are over 47,000 TSA agents and 400 quit; so, something less than 1%. The government might have to continue supplementing TSA staff for a while, don’t know.

I wouldn’t sweat a trip in April or later.

Myself, my first trip to Paris is early May. If the situation continues, I am considering postponing it to Fall.

Carol NR is correct in that there's no need to worry or postpone your trip. Besides, don't you normally get to the airport hours and hours early?

Once you arrive in Paris, you shouldn't have any problems other than the normal headache of maneuvering CDG. 😊

None of those events have any bearing on May travel. Take a break from the doom and gloom news and make a decision based on the facts and actual situation much closer to your travel dates.

I have spoken to many people who have recently traveled domestically in the US. There is more hype in the media than actual chaos in airports. More and more media hysteria to sell clicks. Speak with recent fliers and make a judgement for yourselves before cancelling travel plans.

As for the TSA that quit. There are over 47,000 TSA agents and 400 quit; so, something less than 1%. The government might have to continue supplementing TSA staff for a while, don’t know.

The shortage is due to TSA agents calling in sick, not necessarily quitting. And this is resulting in a shortage, in some places as is evident by the extremely long security line wait times.

It takes a substantial amount of time to be trained as a TSA agent. ICE agents aren't going to show up and start doing that work. They can help with crowd control, but the crowds will remain.

I agree with CL.

Stop.

Right.

Now.

Quit watching whatever you are currently watching that has you all upset. Easter and Passover will have been over for a month when you travel in May.

Go back to working out a Plan A and Plan B for your days in Paris. One for when you've slept. One for when you've not.

At this moment I am very impressed with this group. bostonphil7, you are a good soul, and good soul tend to carry more weight. But listen to your friends here and go have the time of your life in Paris or where ever your desires take you.

The state of the world is certainly not very good right now. Pick any number of reasons, this is not media hype, it is reality. That said, things would have to get a lot worse to stop me from traveling. "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

Bostonphil, listen to Carol NR and Mardee.

Your trip isn't until May. Things can and will change. If you postpone your trip until the fall, who knows what other craziness might be happening then, like strikes or weather or another pandemic.

As Mardee says, you've told us you usually arrive hours early at the airport. I think you've talked about sleeping at the airport previously.

Stop obsessing over this, please.

If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.

Calvin Coolidge

Paris is lovely. I hope you have a great vacation. Checking the news too much or even certain threads here will just add to your anxiety.

In my city we've had a sadly high number of pedestrian deaths lately, and I run or walk quite a bit. It's scary. But I will keep being a careful pedestrian and can only do so much. I do avoid certain intersections and don't allow people operating motor vehicles to wave me on (I wait because you don't know about the driver behind them). I hope you have a great trip.

Try not to let worry ruin your pre trip. I worried too much about the planned air traffic controllers strike in France last October but Delta helped me out and there wasn't a charge due to certain circumstances and in the end at the last day or two they called it off anyway. And we had a great trip last October.

I have a trip starting in May. And I will exercise my judgement and I'm honestly not worried. But a lot of life stuff we just aren't in control of.

Bostonphil7, I hope you don't postpone your trip. I know things are bad in Houston right now, but it can't go on like this until May.

Thank you to everyone who responded.

I have been real busy and did not have time to respond back until now.

But for all those who might have said that it will be resolved by May or June or said "it can not go on until May or June", I respectively disagree. I think this could go on until fall, until close to the election

I hope that I am wrong.

And I am not rushing to cancel my trip. I am waiting until several days before my trip to decide.

I am going to call Delta and speak to Delta as well as Allianz insurance who is insuring my flight.

We'll see. Maybe it will soon be resolved. Everyone call your elected officials and send up positive thoughts.

Mardee

I do not get there just hours before a flight. I get there the night before no matter what.

I am one of the first people in line to check my bag and then go through TSA Pre. This is about 4 am when they first open.

If the TRS problem persists, I am taking a smaller roller than what I usually take. I will take my roller on the plane. And I will only be taking my sling bag, no backpack or purse.

I will be traveling even lighter than usual.

This time, I think that I might have more company overnight than usual.

ponygirl1813

The situation is extremely bad in Houston. It is a living nightmare for people trying to travel.

I do not know what is happening in Dallas

So far, no problems in Austin. The situation has been really good but how many more days / weeks can it continue for TSA worker in Austin..

A second big thank you to all my forum friends.

I am flying Delta and I know that Delta is being helpful

And I have done so much research on Paris that I almost do not need to do much more. I feel guilty. I feel like I must continue to do research about Paris 24/7..

A friend just returned from Paris. We visited and I saw her pictures. It was a destination 65th birthday celebration.

The group stayed at the St Jacques in the 5th and she really liked it. It is a four star hotel for anyone who might be looking.. I can ask her for more information if anyone wants more.

She brought me back a beautiful purple scarf decorated with the sights of Paris and another friend bought me. a black travel dress which i adore. The scarf is going to be the perfect accessory.

By the way my friend said that the weather was perfect, beautiful weather early to mid March. And because it was off season, there were less crowds.

Regarding my own trip. I am going to be loose about an itinerary. I am going to have plans but play it by ear. Iknow what i want to see and I know that I will not be able to see all that I want to.

Regarding my insomnia. I usually sleep better when traveling. I will book a visit to Notre Dame because that is free but I will probably take a chance and pay for some other attractions in advance. However it has to be afternoon entrances. Morning is too risky for me.

Bostonphil,

If you are flying out of Austin and you say the airport is not having TSA issues, then why in the world would you even be thinking about postponing your trip????

hi jeanm

Because who knows by the first week of May? I am thinking ahead. I am not canceling anytime soon but I am wondering what might the situation be like in 5 weeks.

Maybe I am being pessimistic. Maybe everything will be settled in 5 weeks. One can hope.

You don't want to fly out of ATL right now. My husband would have missed his domestic flight on Sunday if his flight hadn't been delayed 30 minutes. He sent me a photo of the Pre-check line yesterday and it was still long(and I couldn't see the carryon luggage conveyer belt in the photo) but he said it was fast compared to Sunday. Since ATL is Deltaland, I imagine that motivated Delta's very appropriate action towards members of Congress.
EDITED: More info. On Sunday CLEAR was closed and he had to stand in line a long time before Pre-check was moved into a different line.

You don't want to fly out of ATL right now. My husband would have
missed his domestic flight on Sunday if his flight hadn't been delayed
30 minutes

Who knew that deploying ICE agents to stand around at airports would do absolutely nothing to alleviate the long security screening lines.

joefarnacle, you could be correct but I believe the agents showed up on the Wednesday following the Sunday in the comment in the quote. I think those traveling through airports might do better to look fot information on current situations. IAH for instance may have had the longest lines in the country, but there seems to be some improvement. I have no idea what the cause of the improvement is, but as a traveler, it really doesnt matter in the context of this forum.

At least they took the masks off. Apparently they are safe at the airport from children in bunny hats and restaurant workers.

I read your post this morning while waiting at the airport for our flight. When I say waiting I mean post TSA. We flew out of a major airport in SoCal. TSA precheck was 5 minutes and the regular line was business as usual after the longer early morning line. So thankful. The airport was full of every ethnicity, probably every religion (I only mention that because you mentioned it and I didn’t get the impression at the airport that folks weren’t traveling) and plenty of college kids heading out for their spring break pilgrimage and lots of families heading for a spring break vacation. So I guess I’m saying that nothing is promised. Fall won’t magically be a perfect world. You’ve worked so hard to plan your wonderful trip to Paris in May and I sure hope you are able to go!

Hello cala

I have heard that Atlanta was one of the airports very affected by the TSA problems.

I was listening to Peter Greenberg talking on CNN days ago, He was talking about a flight and I do not remember which airport but no one was on the plane when it was supposed to push out. All the passengers were still held up in TSA lines.

The plane had to wait.

Your husband was lucky ...

KD

I continue to plan to go to Paris in May.

Passover does not begin until April 1st and Easter is April 5th. Some persons who are not religious still might like to get together with families. For religious Christians, Holy Week is very important to them and I think Holy Week begins April 1st.

And now it is just days away.

There is going to be a lot of traveling for these two major holidays.

You’re considering postponing a trip until Fall because of partial government shutdown, which as others have said will almost surely be resolved soon, but when is it that government shutdowns, not just TSA but other services too, are most likely? Fall. That’s because the government fiscal year ends on September 30 and either full year or short term appropriations need to be enacted by then to avoid shutdown, which they often are not.

I have three domestic flights (USA) in the next eight days. (Actually four but two are the same day and connecting so no airport security on the connection.)That's going through TSA security at three different airports.

I'm not changing my plans. I'll scope out the situation on each flight day and get to the airport a little early if necessary.

But is a slightly longer line at TSA really a reason to cancel an entire trip? You'll be at the airport anyway since you sleep there the night before.

Travel related: the announcement was made yesterday that payments to TSA agents will resume "immediately." The money is "expected" to be drawn from DHS funding. Stay tuned.

Frank II, my husband's experiences at ATL this week were that the lines are not just "slightly" longer. They are significantly longer, even after the improvements. There is talk that it may affect the outcome of the Senate election in GA.

Thats good need Kate. Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who has recently responded

I am unable to figure out if the situation is truly resolved. Has TSA been paid? Are security lines fully open and operational?

Guess that I will be hearing soon enough

Frank II.. Would love to hear how your experiences went going through security if the situation has not been fully resolved.

My May trip is still on. When i said something about fall, I was thinking that because we have midterm elections in November, everything would be up and running until after the election is over.

yes, while I sleep in the airport anyway, that does not mean there will not be hundreds ahead of me when the TSA lines open usually about 4 a.m. There may be a lot of people sleeping in the airport these days and they might be faster than me..