A couple of years ago, a reporter asked Blackpool FC manager Mick McCarthy about his team’s terrible form, saying, “It can’t go on like this, can it?” The Irishman took a beat, smiled grimly and said, “It can.”
U.S. air travelers know the feeling. No matter how punishing they might have thought flying was in recent history, it just seems to keep getting worse. It’s certainly not the most important thing in the world right now, but it adds to a malaise among American consumers that could have real economic and political repercussions.
The latest affront comes in the form of agonizingly long lines at security checkpoints. Transportation Security Administration workers have been toiling without pay for more than a month, collateral damage in a congressional battle over funding for their umbrella agency, the Department of Homeland Security. Hundreds of agents have quit. Many are calling in sick so they can work second jobs that actually pay them. The result is fewer open checkpoints and lines that can stretch toward the taxi stands.
Domestic air travelers usually need to get to the airport two hours ahead of time. Now airports are warning they’ll probably need another hour.
Meanwhile, the war in Iran is boosting jet fuel prices, which will make the privilege of waiting for hours to be crammed into airborne cattle cars far more expensive. Prices have surged 60% since the war began to $3.99 a gallon. That has already started to impact some ticket prices. The longer the war lasts, the likelier prices are to rise and stay high.