Government shutdown

More airports offering food, other support for federal workers during shutdown

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We shared information a few days ago about how Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) and others are joining with community groups to offer food and other support to TSA officers, air traffic controllers and other federal workers who aren’t getting paychecks during the government shutdown but are still expected to show up for work at airports.

Now more airports are joining the list.

Tampa International Airport (TPA) is working with United Way Suncoast and Feeding Tampa Bay to gather resources for the airport’s approximately 1,100 federal employees from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Support includes a food pantry and assistance with childcare, utilities and transportation.

The assistance (called Operation Bald Eagle II) is set to begin next week to align with when those federal employees will start missing money out of their paycheck, the airport told us. Two weeks later, they would miss their first full paycheck should the government shutdown continue.

And Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) announced today that it is partnering with local social service groups, the Children’s Cabinet and the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, to assist federal workers working without pay, including TSA, Customs and Border Protection and Federal Aviation Administration staff.

An assigned rep from the Children’s Cabinet will help provide affected federal employees (those with children or not) with resources such as food, diapers and household items. The Food Bank of Northern Nevada is making its pantry program and other food resources available to affected federal workers.

We’ll update this list as more information becomes available.

Travel tidbits from airlines, airports & the U.S. governnment shutdown

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U.S. government shutdown is affecting air travel. Already.

The U.S. government shutdown is beginning to take a toll on air travel.

TSA workers, air traffic controllers and others – already working longer hours due to staffing shortages – are now working without paychecks and the fallout is clear.

Earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said there’s been a slight increase in the number of sick calls from TSA workers and air traffic controllers since the shutdown began.

And that may be the reason Hollywood Burbank Airport had no air traffic controllers scheduled to work Monday evening. And why several East Coast airports had issues with air traffic control staffing.

Take a look at the FAA’s National Airspace System Status chart. You’ll notice under that the cause for many of the delays is currently listed as “staffing.”

If the shutdown continues, this list will grow.

Help for airport workers on the job without pay

The 2019 government shutdown lasted 35 days, during which time employees of TSA, the FAA and Customs and Border Protection (among others) had to work without pay.

During that time, airports and airlines and community groups set up food pantries and free meals for those unpaid workers.

It’s happening again.

During the shutdown, the Allegheny County Authority (ACAA), the operator of Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is providing free meals to working U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees.

The first meals were provided at both Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) and Allegheny County Airport (AGC) on Friday, Oct. 3. The plan is to provide meals twice a week for the duration of the shutdown.

According to PIT officials, airport concessions partners are contributing by helping to prepare the meals at a discounted rate. Participants include Air Ventures, Beer Code, Bruegger’s Bagels, Chick-fil-A, Jimmy John’s, Local Craft, Shake Shack, and Wellington, with more to come.

Currently, the meals will be distributed across all shifts on Tuesdays and Thursdays at PIT and AGC.

And at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), TSA workers are getting support.

If the shutdown continues, starting October 11, 2025, TSA workers will be offered several benefits, including complimentary parking during their shifts; two meal vouchers per shift (one voucher per shift for part-time workers); and discounts or special meals from ATL concessionaries.

Any other airports doing this? Let us know.

JetBlue’s new special celebrating Puerto Rico

One of JetBlue‘s Airbus A320s now bears a special livery, Isla del Bluencanto, designed by Puerto Rican artist Juan Gutiérrez Rovira, also known as The Stencil Network. 

The design was chosen by a public vote and celebrates Puerto Rico’s rich culture and spirit and showcases iconic symbols of Puerto Rican heritage.

Look for the jibaro figure on the tail; fruits and flora of the island, on the body of the aircraft; and the phrase “Somos Boruca” – We are Puerto Rico – on the plane’s underbelly,

Air New Zealand’s Prime Day deals

Amazon’s October Prime Days include some travel deals, including some great fares to New Zealand with Air New Zealand’s Prime Day fares.

From October 7 to 9, the airline is offering round-trip flights to Auckland for as low as $825 in the economy cabin. There are tempting fares in Premium Economy and Business Premier as well, and with departures from major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, New York and more.

Attractions offer free/discounted admission for government workers during shutdown

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Grand Central Terminal clock

We don’t know when the government shutdown will end, and furloughed workers will be able to get paid and get back to work.

But in the meantime, museums and attractions around the country are trying to help out a bit by offering free admission to federal employees during the shutdown. Here are some examples. Let us know if you find others.

In Oregon: Columbia River Maritime Museum

Washington, DC


Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit. Courtesy National Air & Space Museum

The Smithsonian Institution’s museums, research centers and the National Zoo will use prior-year funds to remain open to the public during the federal government shutdown at least through Monday, October 6, 2025. Updates will be posted as needed on the Smithsonian’s website.

The International Spy Museum is offering 50% off admission for government employees who show ID.

Free admission for government employees is being offered at the National Building Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Planet Word Museum, and others.

Indianapolis

Colorado

This list of Colorado museums offering free admission to furloughed government workers during the shutdown is courtesy of Denver’s ABC station.

1. Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave – Golden, Colorado
2. Center for Colorado Women’s History at Byers-Evans House – Denver
3. Colorado Railroad Museum – Golden, Colorado
4. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College – Colorado Springs, Colo.
5. Denver Art Museum – Denver
6. Denver Firefighters Museum – Denver
7. Denver Museum of Nature and Science – Denver
8. Dinosaur Journey – Fruita, Colo.
9. Dinosaur Ridge (federal employee + 3 guests are allowed in; free admission until February 15) – Morrison, Colorado
10. El Pueblo History Museum – Pueblo, Colorado
11. Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center – Fort Garland, Colorado
12. Fort Vasquez – Platteville, Colorado
13. Four Mile Historic Park – Denver
14. Golden History Museum + Park – Golden, Colorado
15. Hart Research Library – Denver
16. Healy House Museum & Dexter Cabin – Leadville, Colorado
17. History Colorado Center – Denver
18. Museum of Colorado Prisons – Cañon City, Colorado
19. Museum of the West/Museum of Western Colorado – Grand Junction, Colo.
20. Office of Archaeology & Historic Preservation and State Historical Fund – Denver
21. Trinidad History Museum – Trinidad, Colorado
22. Ute Indian Museum – Montrose, Colorado
23. Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum – Denver

Many other museums and attractions are stepping up to offer a bit of relief to furloughed government workers during the shutdown. Check to see what’s available where you are.

How will the U.S. government shutdown mess with travel?

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If the U.S. government shutdown continues, there could be trouble for travelers and the U.S. travel and tourism economy on multiple fronts.

Trouble at airports and in the skies

For now, airports and airlines are continuing to operate as normal and are issuing reassurances that they are.

But if the shutdown continues, air travelers should be prepared for long security and customs lines and canceled or delayed flights.

Air traffic controllers, TSA officers and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) staff are considered ‘essential workers’ and are required to work during the shutdown.

But they won’t be getting paid. And, as the last government shutdown dragged on, the strain of working under those conditions caused many of those workers to call in sick, take on other jobs or just not show up for their shifts.

TSA says it has stopped actively managing its website and social media accounts during the lapse in federal funding.

However, before stepping away, the agency stated on X (formerly Twitter) that approximately 61,000 of its 64,000 employees are considered excepted or exempt, and that TSA will continue operations.

“The remaining employees will be temporarily furloughed,” it added.

In a pre-shutdown release, the Airline trade group, Airlines for America, warned that while “aviation is the safest mode of transportation, to maintain that during the shutdown, “the system may need to slow down, reducing efficiency.”

The U.S. Transportation Department is furloughing more than 11,000 employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association notes that in addition to air traffic controllers working without pay, the shutdown means that approximately 2,350 aviation safety professionals that NATCA represents, including aircraft certification engineers and aerospace engineers, are furloughed.

“Critical safety support, operational support, and modernization work will stop,” says NATCA.

Glacier National Park visitors 1960

Closures of museums and National Parks

Elsewhere, Smithsonian Museums and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. are closed.

A message from the National Park Service says that “National parks remain as accessible as possible during the federal government shutdown. However, some services may be limited or unavailable.”

The agency has posted some closure alerts on its website and has more details in its contingency plan document. But be prepared to find visitor centers, historic buildings and other staffed facilities in any National Parks that remain open to be inaccessible.

There are state and local efforts around the country to keep individual parks and monuments open.

For example, Colorado is offering to help keep its eight National Park properties open. The South Dakota tourism office says many of its National Park sites remain open, including Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore. However, visitor centers and guided tours are unavailable.

And the Interior Department announced plans to keep the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island open in New York.

In general, the rule of thumb for travelers during this shutdown is to be flexible, check – and check again – on the status of any place you hope to visit and hope that this mess gets resolved quickly.

Because in addition to the disruptions individual travelers may be dealing with, Tourism Economics estimates that the travel economy is at risk of losing $1 billion a week due to disruptions in air and rail travel and the closure of national parks and museums. 

Shutdown over (for now); support for airport workers continues

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Funding for all parts of the US government has been reinstated – for three weeks – and TSA, FAA, CBP and other federal employees who have been required to work – without pay – are now expecting paychecks and back pay.

But life for many of these people has been disrupted. And paychecks may not arrive until February 1, or later. That means many airports will continue collecting and distributing community donations of foods and gift cards to these workers.

Seattle-Tacoma Internatoinal Airport will continue collecting donations through Friday, February 1. Here’s the list of what has been donated over the past two weeks:

7,000 diapers

650 donuts

10 crates of fresh fruit

Thousands of dollars-worth of gift cards

Three weeks-worth of hot meals

At Los Angles International Airport, workers will continue to receive free rides on the FlyAway bus and waived or deferred parking fees until paychecks start flowing.

Last Thursday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he directed the L.A. Department of Water and Power as well as the city’s Bureau of Sanitation to offer assistance and payment plans for water, power, sewer and trash services. That includes plans that spread payments out over an additional three to four months.

Other airports will continue their support efforts as well.

And on Friday, United Airlines announced a donation of $1 million to Feeding America’s Shutdown Response Fund to support the food banks providing food for families of federal workers who need assistance following their loss of income.

“Even with [Friday’s] announcement, there is continued need among federal employees, in addition to the important programs that Feeding America administers,” said United CEO Oscar Munoz, “We continue to urge our leaders to work in a bipartisan way over the coming weeks to ensure long-term certainty on which our industry and the overall economy depends.”

More TSA no shows; but more support for TSA workers

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The Transportation Security Administration is sending out daily reports on the number of officers who are not showing up for work and wait times at the nation’s largest airports.

No surprise, the numbers of ‘no shows’ has been rising as the shutdown drags on.

On Sunday, TSA reported, 10 percent of its workforce had “unscheduled absences” compared to a 3.1 percent rate one year ago on the same day.

“Many employees are reporting that they are not able to report to work due to financial limitations,” says TSA.

On Sunday, the average security checkpiont wait times at most of the busiest airports were well within TSA’s ‘normal’ range of 30 minutes. But keep in mind hundreds of flights were canceled on Sunday due to weather, so lines may have been light anyway.

Still there were some ‘wowsers’: On Sunday, travelers waited an average of 28 minutes on line at Tampa International Airport, an average of 35 minutes at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and an average of 45 minutes at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

The outpouring of support for TSA workers, air traffic contollers and other federal employees who are showing up for work continues.

This week, TheFruitGuys will be delivering boxes of fresh fruit (and, in some cases, take-home veggies) to TSA workers at airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

At Your Gate has expanded its offer of free meals ($10 off, plus free delivery) to TSA workers at airports in San Diego, Newark, New York (LaGuardia and JFK) and Minneapolis.

And SFO Airport is asking onsite shops and restaurants to offer 50 percent discounts to federal employees who continue to work without a paycheck.

To help out, “SFO will adjust its fee structure to protect voluntarily participating concession operators from any financial impact of this discount program,” the airport said in a statement.

SFO is also providing resource sheets to help affected workers access assistance services, and the Airport’s Business and Career Center is offering “Shutdown Support” drop-in hours where affected workers can meet with specialists on managing unexpected financial challenges.

TSA getting love + shutting checkpoints

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As the partial government shutdown slogs on, the Transportation Security Administration says an increasing number of its officers are facing financial difficulties and not showing up for work.

That’s causing longer wait times at some major airports around the country. It’s also forcing some airports to close some checkpoints.

Checkpoint A was closed at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

And the security checkpoint in Terminal B continues to be shut down at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

TSA officers, air traffic controllers and other federal workers who have been showing up for work at airport may not be getting paychecks, but across the country, they are getting lots of love, food and assistance from airlines, airports, restaurants, community groups and the general public. Here’s a slightly updated version of the story I filed this weekend for CNBC.

At Bellingham International Airport in Washington, about 20 miles from the Canadian border, budget airline Allegiant Air provided pizza for TSA workers on Thursday.

In Las Vegas, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak not only visited with TSA workers at McCarran International Airport to express his appreciation for their service and commitment to the airport and to the community, he followed up by having hot pizzas delivered.

These, and many other pizza thank-yous, are coming on the heels of last week’s gesture of goodwill from Canadian air traffic controllers who sent more than 300 pizzas to their counterparts in more than 40 airports in the United States. Air traffic controllers in the Canadian city of Edmonton got the (dough) ball rolling.

Of course, TSA and FAA employees working without paychecks can’t live by pizza alone.

At Seattle Tacoma International Airport, donations of non-perishable food and gifts cards are being collected and distributed daily.

Seattle-based Washington Federal is offering interest-free, 90-day loans, with no loan fees or application fees, to TSA, FAA and other federal workers waiting for paychecks in eight western states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.

“We are proud to step in and help our hard-working neighbors get through this uncertain time and support their financial needs,” said Washington Federal President and Chief Executive Officer Brent J. Beardall in a statement, “We hope other financial institutions will do the same.”

And in San Jose, California, the City Council this week endorsed Mayor Sam Liccardo’s proposal to set up a no-interest short-term loan program for many of the 500 federal employees who have been working at Mineta San Jose International Airport without pay.

The program, which may be funded through airport revenues and administered in partnership with one or more financial institutions, proposes loans equal to monthly take-home pay for FAA air traffic controllers, TSA workers and officers working for Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“We are going to do everything in our power to keep political dysfunction in Washington from creating service disruptions or safety issues here in San Jose,” said Liccardo. “Mineta San Jose International Airport is vital to our local economy and we need our highly-skilled and trained federal workers there to keep it running smoothly. That’s why we are exploring tools, like these local bridge loans, to help keep these essential workers on the job.”

Meanwhile, across the country, airports continue to gather and distribute donations for federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown.

At Orlando International Airport, there has been overwhelming response to a donation drive headed up by the Airline Management Council. On Thursday the airline tweeted a short video of a room with tables piled high with everything from donated diapers to toilet paper and canned goods.

As the shutdown continues, airlines, airport concessionaires and other groups are stepping up with donations, discounts and support.

“Today we were able to help surprise the Sunport’s @TSA with gift cards to local grocery stores and lots of goodies to fill their break room for a few days – all thanks to the wonderful folks with Indivisible Nob Hill and Resist Tyranny Tuesdays,” Albuquerque International Sunport tweeted, along with photos.

And on Thursday, “It was our turn,” St. Louis Lambert International Airport, said in a tweet, “The #stlairport and @HMSHost provided lunches to all @TSA officers this morning and afternoon. We appreciate your huSTLe and dedication. #ThankyouTSA.”https://twitter.com/flystl/status/1086018922267193344

More love for unpaid airport workers

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Gov’t shutdown causes closed checkpoints – and pizza – at airports

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The partial shutdown of the federal government is taking its toll on airports.

On Saturday, Miami International Airport closed one of its security checkpoints because airport officials were worried there wouldn’t be enough TSA employees on duty to keep all the airport’s checkpoints open.

The airport plans to reopen the checkpoint on Monday morning.

On Sunday afternoon, Houston’s George Bush International Airport (IAH), shut down the TSA checkpoint and ticketing counter in Terminal B. The reason? Concern about staffing issues associated with the partial shutdown of the federal government.

If the government shutdown continues, we can expect more of these checkpoint closures to take place. Passengers will be directed to other checkpoints, where lines will no doubt get very long.

And outpouring of pizza

While long lines are surely frustrating for travelers, there is an outpouring of support for the TSA workers, air traffice controllers and customs and border protection workers who are working without pay.

On Friday, Nashville International Airport sent pizzas to TSA employees at the airport working without pay.

And Canadian air traffic controllers showed their support for their American counterparts by sending pizzas as well.

Elsewhere, there’s a pop-up food pantry for TSA employees at Tampa International Airport.

At Your Gate is offering $10 off and waiving the delivery fee for food delivered to TSA employees on duty at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). The offer will expand to other airports where the service is available (San Diego International Airport, New York LaGuardia Terminal B, JFK and MSP) later this week.

Federal workers working without pay at Ontario International Airport were treated to a barbecue on Friday. Food was supplied by the Ontario Reign Hockey team and other groups in town.

On Friday, Pittsburgh International Airport served lunch to federal workers at the airport and plans to do so each Friday until the shutdown is over.

Seattle Tacoma International Airport will hold its second information fair on Monday to help federal employees working without pay learn about short term loans and other resources that may be available to them.

And, as we reported earlier, Hudson Group, which operates shops in many airports, is offering a 20% discount off food, beverages and many store products to all TSA and customs employees until the shutdown is resolved.

OTG, which operates retail outlets and restaurants in 10 airports, will offer TSA employees a 50 percent discount on food and beverage through the duration of the government shutdown too.

If you learn of any other efforts underway, please let us know.