Americans have just endured a terrifying week of travel. It’s not going to get better anytime soon.

QUEENS, NY – At John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City this Thursday, travelers lined up at TSA checkpoints, eager to get to their gates before their flights took off.

At Terminal 4, which mainly serves Delta (DAL) and other international carriers, the lines for TSA Pre-check, digital ID, and Clear – a private screening company – were surprisingly fast; however, general TSA lines appeared to have wait times of approximately 30 minutes.

“We left four hours earlier than we originally planned,” Mike Mayer, a New York-based flight and security manager, said after getting through security at Terminal 4.

But near Terminal 5, which serves JetBlue (JBLU), wait times for general boarding seem to be hours.

Although it worked out well for Mayer, and he got through security in plenty of time, it was a disaster all around, and he suffered from TSA personnel.

“I think it’s cruel that they’re not getting paid,” he said.

Read more: CLEAR+ allows you to bypass TSA checkpoints for ID. Is it worth the cost?

With the government shutdown over 40 days away, TSA workers are now without two paychecks, leading to more workers than they are used to yelling. Add that to the 480 layoffs during the shutdown and a lack of trained TSA personnel at the airport, and it’s leading to closed security checkpoints, hours-long waits in security lines, and missed flights.

Reports from Baltimore’s BWI Airport, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and Newark Airport, New Jersey, showed more of the same.

“I was in Houston [Thursday] trying to get through TSA, the lines were four hours,” travel expert and CBS news editor Peter Greenberg told Yahoo Finance. The average no-show rate is over 40% at Bush Intercontinental, in Hobby [Airport] across the city, it was 55%.

At some airports, 40% to 50% of TSA workers were yelled at on certain days, driving what TSA chief executive officer Ha Nguyen McNeill described as the highest wait times in TSA history, exceeding four and a half hours.

An effort to end the 41-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security was overwhelmingly defeated in the Senate early Friday, followed by a furious backlash when the measure reached the House.

The ongoing gridlock has led to renewed uncertainty about whether a compromise is possible to end the weeks-long logjam.

House Speaker Mike Johnson briefly rejected that approach Friday afternoon and announced that the House will pass a separate bill to fund the entire Department of Homeland Security through May 22.

But the Senate, which is currently on recess, won’t be able to consider any new bills until Monday.

On Thursday evening, President Trump announced plans to sign an executive order to “deal with this Emergency” and pay TSA agents without Congressional approval. But it is not clear what legal authority that movement will rely on. However, Johnson expressed hope that the White House could move quickly, saying “the machine is working now.”

Read more: Airport congestion is growing as TSA lines stretch for hours. What you need to know about trip cancellation insurance.

For airlines, modified aircraft and reduced capacity will peak, and this does not include the impact of higher fuel prices from the US-Israel war against Iran.

CEOs of American Airlines (AAL), Delta (DAL), United (UAL), Southwest (LUV), JetBlue (JBLU), Alaska Air (ALK), and several freight carriers, including UPS (UPS) and FedEx (FDX), have signed a joint open letter to Congress calling for an immediate end to the shutdown.

The bosses, already smarting from last fall’s financial crisis that left TSA workers and air traffic controllers without pay, didn’t hesitate.

“Once again, air travel is a political football during another government shutdown,” the executives wrote about Airlines for America, the industry’s trade group. “TSA officers just got paid $0. That’s unacceptable. It’s hard, if not impossible, to put food on the table, gas in the car and pay the rent when you’re not getting paid.”

The industry expects 171 million passengers this season, with the 2026 FIFA World Cup and America’s 250th birthday celebrations adding more pressure to an already strained system this summer.

The joint letter warned that “too many passengers have to wait abnormally long times – and walk slowly – at the checkpoints,” which leads to airline delays and delays in returning passengers, costing them more money every day.

Delta, the world’s largest airline by market capitalization, continued its criticism.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview with CNBC that he is “outraged” that security personnel continue to work without pay, calling it “irresponsible” and accusing Washington of using former employees as “political pawns.”

And the pain from TSA lines and errant flights doesn’t include the broader economic windfall hitting the industry.

Rising oil prices linked to the ongoing US-Israel conflict with Iran are already undermining.

Bastian of Delta noted that the war in Iran adds some elements of uncertainty that make it very difficult to plan the seasons of spring and summer, with the high cost of fuel affecting only $ 400 million in March.

At the center of the chaos are TSA officers themselves — essential workers who are legally required to show up but do so with delayed compensation.

TSA agents deal with deportation notices, impounding vehicles, and even selling blood plasma for food money. Some officials reported that they could not afford the cost of cancer treatment or medical visits for sick children.

The TSA’s McNeill, testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, warned that the agency could be forced to close the small airport entirely if workers continue to suffer. McNeill also warned of travel problems that would continue beyond the closure, with the recruitment process involving four to six months of training.

That’s because many TSA workers are in dire straits, and they need to work now.

“You have a situation where the average salary of a TSA agent per year is about $35,000. It’s time to negotiate, and basically they have to go out and get second jobs. They can’t quit,” Greenberg said.

Greenberg thinks that the pain felt by the airlines, even by DC politicians who have trouble traveling, means that a solution may be coming soon.

“When you talk about long-term damage to the airline industry, historically, you’re talking about self-inflicted wounds,” he said.

Whether it’s solved sooner rather than later, guests like Mike Mayer believe Washington is at the root of the problem.

“It is the current political system, the executive branch and the legislative branch together, not working together to get the things that are important for the people,” he said.

“A lot of blame to go around.”

Pras Subramanian is a Lead Auto Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him X and further Instagram.

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