Government Shutdown and Travel: What to Know About Flights, Passports and More

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.