What Travelers Need to Know If There Is a Shut Down This Weekend
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| “Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, in a statement issued Wednesday.Credit...Joe Raedle/Getty Images |
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A government shutdown could snarl plans for tens of millions of Americans traveling for the December holidays if Congress fails on Friday to pass legislation to keep the government functioning. Nonessential federal operations would cease at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday.
For the busy holiday travel period, the Transportation Security Administration expects to screen nearly 40 million air passengers between Thursday, Dec. 19, and Thursday, Jan. 2, a 6.2-percent increase over the same period last year.
The vast majority of essential T.S.A. employees would continue to work, but without pay, said R. Carter Langston, press secretary for the agency, on Thursday. But if some agents, citing financial hardship, stop showing up for work, as was the case during the 2018-19 shutdown, travelers at airports could face longer lines.
“Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Weather could worsen any shutdown-related delays with storms in the Northeast forecast for the weekend and storms possible on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the South.
Here’s how the shutdown could affect your travel plans.
I’m flying in the next few days. What could happen to air travel and why?
More than 14,000 air traffic controllers, employed by the Federal Aviation Administration, and most of the 60,000 Transportation Security Administration workers are among the essential workers forced to work without pay during the shutdown.
During the longest and most recent shutdown, which stretched more than 30 days from December 2018 to January 2019, T.S.A. agents at Miami International Airport called out sick at double the normal rate, forcing the airport to temporarily close an entire terminal. At one point, 10 percent of T.S.A. agents nationwide were absent, causing long security lines at major airports and even the closure of T.S.A. checkpoints. And on the last day, absences at two air-traffic control facilities led to rerouted flights and hundreds of flight delays in the Northeast.
I have train tickets. Will Amtrak be disrupted?
While Amtrak receives state and federal subsidies, the company operates as an independent entity rather than a public authority, and will ensure that normal train operations continue and workers are paid.
“Passengers planning to travel on Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor and across the country in the coming days and weeks can be assured that Amtrak will remain open for business,” said Jason Abrams, an Amtrak spokesman.
I’m driving somewhere for the holidays. Will I be affected?
Before the shutdown, the AAA predicted that around 119 million people will travel by plane, car or another transit mode at least 50 miles between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1, an increase of 3 million travelers compared to the same period in 2023. That means already crowded highways could be even more jammed with people avoiding backups at airports.
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“This year, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, we’re anticipating record-breaking travel numbers the weekend before and the weekend after the holiday,” said Stacey Barber, a vice president of AAA Travel, in a statement.
I applied for a passport. Will it be delayed?
Visa and passport processing would not be immediately affected by the shutdown, as the federal agencies involved — the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs — are funded by fees and don’t depend on congressional appropriations for most programs.
I planned a trip to a national park. Should I reschedule?
During a government shutdown, most of the National Park Service sites will be “closed completely to public access,” according to the service’s contingency plan. “Areas that by their nature are physically accessible to the public will face significantly reduced visitor services.”
In the plan, published in March 2024, the service asks the public not to visit during these periods, and check Recreation.gov for reservations, cancellation policies and other park information.
“We remain hopeful that a lapse in government funding will not occur,” a National Park Service spokesperson said Thursday. “Should a lapse occur, routine visitor services will be available through Sunday.”
The spokesperson did not provide further additional information.
The economic and environmental impact could be serious, warned Theresa Pierno, president and chief executive of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association.
“If Congress is unable to do its job and fund our government, the National Park Service must do what’s necessary to protect our most treasured places, which could mean closing their gates,” she said. “If that happens, parks could lose more than $540 million in fee revenue every single day they are closed, thousands of park staff would be furloughed, and local economies that rely on park visitors could take a hit, only days before the holiday season.”
Faced with the loss of visitor dollars, state, local and tribal governments may choose to spend their own money to keep parks open, subject to the approval of the National Park Service director. During the 2018-19 shutdown, states like New York, Arizona and Utah paid to operate national parks within their borders.
I’m going to Canada. What is the situation at U.S. borders?
The country’s entry ports — sea, land and air — will remain open, and all immigration, border and custom agents will continue to work. Most staff at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, are considered essential workers. In past government shutdowns, borders and other ports of entry have operated as normal and international travelers with valid visas and passports were not affected.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations should continue, the American Immigration Lawyers Association said.
The association warned that consular operations could be affected if “there are insufficient fees to support operations at a particular post. In such a case, posts will generally only handle diplomatic visas and ‘life or death’ emergencies.”
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