Not all airport screeners are going unpaid during the partial government shutdown
For about six weeks, a partial government shutdown has been in place and during it, lawmakers said Transportation Security Administration workers aren't getting paid.
The agency said it's experiencing a high number of callouts, especially in the Houston area, resulting in long screening lines. At Bush Intercontinental Airport on Tuesday, officials said the line lasted more than four hours for some passengers.
Long lines aren't at all airports. According to the TSA app, on Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco International, Kansas City International, and Sioux Falls Regional Airport had wait times under 15 minutes.
At Orlando-Sanford's airport, there was no TSA wait time. Travel expert Gary Leff said there's a difference between screeners at those airports compared to Houston's.
"The private companies are still operating," Leff explained. "The private companies are still paying their staff. The staff have no reason not to show up to work. They don't have the same issue that keeps coming up with government shutdowns, where TSA screeners aren't being paid."
The airports listed above participate in a program where screeners are staffed by private employees.
Here's how many airports are in the private security program
The TSA offers something called the Screening Partnership Program. The agency said there are 20 airports in the program. Keith Jeffries, K2 Security Screening Group vice president, and former LAX federal security director, has worked with these private screeners.
"These private screening companies do it as good, and in some cases a little bit better, especially with what we've seen on the ratings with customer service year over year," Jeffries explained.
On Tuesday, ABC13 asked the Houston Airport System if it would consider applying for the program, but didn't receive a response.
Not all of the participating airports are small. San Francisco International said last year, more than 50 million passengers went through its airport. With the latest partial government shutdown creating long lines, Leff believes other large airports could consider the private program.
"It certainly made the possibility focal," Leff said. "Certainly, we could expect to see more airports consider it."
Even if IAH or HOU applied, the program wouldn't provide immediate relief
To be in the program, airports must apply. Jeffries said that it isn't necessarily a quick process.
"I think the shortest I've seen it go as about nine months by the time that the airport acknowledges it, but in the larger airports it could be longer," Jeffries explained.
Even if an airport decided to apply, Jeffries said it wouldn't guarantee the long lines would be gone. He said there would be some frustration at first.
"The callouts that you're seeing with this shutdown is one thing, but you'll see a spike in that as well because it's kind of a subtle way to show they don't like that decision," Jeffries said.
Are private screeners safe?
Last year, the TSA union released some concerns about private screeners. The biggest concern they had was safety.
They pointed to Sept. 11th, 2001, when airports primarily relied on private security companies.
"As far as the security capability difference between TSA and the private screening company, there is no data that I was ever made aware of that one is better than the other," Jeffries said.
According to the TSA, private screeners still operate under federal oversight and must comply with all TSA security screening procedures. "As a passenger, generally you wouldn't know the difference between whether it is private or public except right now, where they're showing up to work," Leff said.
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