TSA staffing problem causes strains at Seattle-Tacoma Airport to stretch into parking storage

Travelers may want to prepare for even longer waiting times at the airport.

In the past year, the coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on the travel industry, especially in air travel. Now that more Americans are being vaccinated and ready to take to the skies again, new problems are emerging at some airports.

Personnel issues with the TSA resulted in security checkpoints at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state being secured earlier this week, News Tribune reports. The lines were reportedly long enough to return to the airport garage.

According to the news agency, the weekly number of travelers has increased but is still below the pre-COVID numbers.

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A seemingly frustrated traveler shared a line video on Twitter last Sunday showing large numbers of people standing in the building’s parking garage. The author of the tweet described the situation as “out of this world”.

The official Seattle-Tacoma International Twitter account replied to the post, saying, “We appreciate travelers who are pending security checks as we have problems with TSA staffing. We apologize for the traffic jam, but thank you for your patience ! “

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In an interview with a local news agency, airport spokesman Perry Cooper said, “We have had three days in the past week and a half that go back to Monday [April 5] and then last weekend – Saturday and Sunday – we had situations in which we had waited in the garage for over 60 minutes. “

Aside from staffing issues, the checkpoint lines are also affected by the fact that the TSA can only open a certain number of lanes to encourage social distancing.

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Airports aren’t the only companies suffering from staffing problems.

Fox News recently reported a viral video on Tiktok showing a sign posted on a McDonald’s drive-through asking customers to be patient. According to the sign, the restaurant has staff problems because “nobody wants to work”.