Government shutdown taking a toll on travel

Last week, the U.S. Travel Assocation ran the numbers and said that the government shutdown will cost the travel economy $1 billion a week.

As we head into the second week of shutdown, the organization has a ticker tape running to tally the ongoing losses. It’s not pretty.

Airports opt out of Department of Homeland Security ‘blame’ video

Air traffic controllers, TSA officers and Custom and Border Protection employees are required to show up for work at the nation’s airports, even though they’re not being paid during the government shutdown.

The current administration, via the Department of Homeland Security, has produced a propaganda video to be shown at airport security checkpoints featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claiming that “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted and most of our TSA employees are working without pay.”

But airports are pushing back.

So far, we’ve learned that Portland International Airport (PDX), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Spokane International Airport (GEG), Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF), Niagara Falls International Airport (IAG), Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) and Westchester County Airport (HPN), north of New York City, won’t be airing the video.

“We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” a PDX spokesperson told local news outlets, adding that, Oregon law states no public employee can promote or oppose any political committee, party, or affiliation. We believe consenting to playing this video on Port assets would violate Oregon law.”

Officials at the Port of Seattle, which operates SEA, said they won’t air the video due to its “political nature.”

We suspect there will be more airports that opt out of airing the video and and will add to the list.