Originally Posted by
jamesinclair
For the major airports, I would wager a vast majority of TSA employees arrive by public transport. That means on Feb 1 they will be expected to put down $100-$200 cash for a bus or train pass for the month. Most of these folks are commuting for "free" because they bought a January pass in December, when they expected the shutdown to end quickly.
Probably a fair statement. I take public transit to the airport probably a bit more often than your average FTer and living in Houston I can tell you that the vast majority of people taking the bus to the airport are TSA, ABM (who are contracted to push wheelchairs and other duties around the airport), and the various OTG food service folks. They're not passengers. I was taking the bus to IAH last month and I did a double take when a guy with 2 Rinowa bags hopped on the bus
Anyway as to the impact I flew out of HOU on Saturday and while the regular line looked a bit longer than usual, there was nothing crazy. In Pre the logjam was at the ID checker, not the xray belt.