Travelers navigating through the International Terminal of San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, July 14, 2023. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

In the latest air travel news, air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers should keep going to work despite the federal government’s shutdown, but some might decide not to since they won’t be getting paid; United Airlines and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are testing a new procedure at San Francisco International that will allow some international arrivals to forgo rechecking their luggage if they have a domestic connection; Spirit Airlines says it is making progress on a financial restructuring during its second Chapter 11 filing; United prepares to deploy Starlink Wi-Fi on its first mainline aircraft this month; American Airlines unveils enhancements to its regional jet fleet; U.S. travelers to Europe can expect new entry requirements soon as the European Union’s system goes digital; American adds new domestic routes from LAX and puts a 777 into service on its LAX-New York JFK service; Alaska Airlines and Frontier are set to introduce new California routes next week; and international route news comes from Delta, Gulf Air and Breeze Airways.

How long would you keep going to work if you didn’t receive a paycheck? That’s the question that thousands of air traffic controllers and TSA officers will be asking themselves as the federal government shutdown drags on. And their answers will determine how difficult air travel could become for the public in the days ahead. Although Congress this week failed to agree on funding the government, resulting in the shutdown of many federal services, TSA officers and air traffic controllers are expected to keep working because their jobs are considered essential — but they won’t be paid until Congress resolves its impasse and the money starts flowing again. 

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The U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Washington.

When the government was shut down for 34 days during the first Donald Trump administration in December 2018 and January 2019, TSA officers and air traffic controllers kept going to work for a while. But after about two weeks with no pay, some of them started to call in sick or just not show up, and that led to longer security screening lines and flight delays. According to CBS News, about 10% of TSA officers called in sick during the 2018-2019 government shutdown. 

Looking out at Washington, D.C., from an airplane window.

The U.S. Travel Association said in a letter to Congress this week that the government shutdown is “a wholly preventable blow to America’s travel economy—costing $1 billion every week—and affecting millions of travelers and businesses while placing unnecessary strain on an already overextended federal workforce.” The organization said a new Ipsos survey found that 60% of Americans said they would cancel or avoid airline flights during a shutdown, and 86% agreed that a shutdown would inconvenience air travelers. But maybe a crisis in air travel is the motivation that Congress needs to resolve its impasse. CNN noted during the 2018-19 shutdown that legislators finally brought it to an end after several air traffic controllers on the East Coast decided to stop working, resulting in a temporary closure of flight activity at New York LaGuardia and major delays at other........

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