Concerned About Flying During the U.S. Government Shutdown? So is This Travel Blogger.

One aspect of being a travel blogger that I enjoy but don't write about as frequently is travel commentary. When I write a travel commentary post, it is usually to highlight a recent or ongoing issue related to travel either in the United States or across the globe.

For this blog post, I'm sharing my thoughts about the concerns many people (including myself) have about how the 2025 U.S. government shutdown is impacting travel and what that means for federal employees, airport staff, flight crews, passengers, and others dealing directly with the travel industry in some way. I'll break this down by giving a brief commentary on some of the primary issues on my mind. With an upcoming work trip planned, these are the concerns that I can't stop thinking about:

Federal Employees Staffing Airport Operations

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of government shutdowns are the employees that will not be receiving paychecks and the people that may not receive government assistance to meet basics needs in their lives. Nobody wants to work a job that they were hired for with a set wage or salary for free, unsure of when they could finally receive their next paycheck. Staffing levels will absolutely be reduced at airports across the country during the shutdown and I don't blame people for not wanting to work under these conditions.

General Airport Staff

Not all staff in airports are employed by the federal government. However, these are people who have to try their best to fill in the gaps and help manage long lines and frustrated travelers with even more limited resources than what they might have already been working with. I know all too well what it's like to suddenly have to handle an influx of frustrated people without enough support in place to refer them to the correct staff or be able to cater to everyone's needs as your own stress and frustration continues to build. The situation that you're experiencing isn't necessarily their fault and they are doing the best they can to keep airport operations as streamline as possible.

Airport Security

With fewer TSA agents around to staff the airport security checkpoints, it's completely reasonable to be concerned about the overall impacts to security. The people that are showing up to work will be there for long hours and overwhelmed. That can easily lead to quality issues in the work they are expected to carry out. As a traveler, you'll want to stay vigilant of your surroundings (as you always should be doing) and prepare for moving through security lines as quickly as possible. My tips for navigating airports can help you with that if you're not a frequent flyer.

Flight Safety

If you kept up with the news at least occasionally within the last 10 years, then you know that a regular topic of discussion in travel news is the lack of air traffic controllers. Generally, there has been difficulty in hiring people for those roles. The job itself is stressful by nature of the work being done along with the work environment, and there is a limit for how long someone can be employed as an air traffic controller. Add a government shutdown where people aren't getting paid on top of that, and it sounds like something that is made to be a recipe for disaster. There are hundreds of inbound and outbound flights per day at individual airports and the staff in the air traffic control towers are responsible for communicating information to each plane so that they getting on or off the ground safely, getting the timing right so planes don't collide, and navigating planes to their appropriate gate (plus other responsibilities that I don't know about).

This is a big concern because you really can't have overwhelmed people working longer hours in jobs like this. In fact, the solution to handling flight safety during staffing shortages is the FAA issuing a ground stop at airports. If you're new to Kimi's Travel Thoughts, you may not know that I'm based in Austin, TX. At the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, we've already had multiple ground stops since the government shutdown began. The airport also has a history of close encounters with near mid-air collisions with overworked air traffic controllers being part of the issue, so that leaves me feeling extra concerned about flight safety. Ground stops are inconvenient, but a necessity.

Flight Delays and Cancellations

I mention this as something that I am more mindful of than truly concerned about. For my upcoming work trip, I made arrangements for my flight to be scheduled to land as close to 24 hours as possible before the event I am attending is set to start. I want to be able to have some extra time on my side should there be any sort of ground stop, flight cancellation, or other delay. Arriving late isn't ideal, but not a significant concern. I'm even less concerned about my return flight because I'll get back to Texas whenever I do, but there's always the chance that I will run into delays or cancellations because the government shutdown could still be ongoing by the time my work trip concludes. For that reason, I chose a return flight with a layover at an airport and city I would be okay being stuck in for a while.

Final Thoughts on Government Shutdown Travel Concerns

There are so many different things to be worried about with the government shutdown and those items go far beyond just travel. Even the topic of travel would require a much longer, multi-part series on my blog to be able to address everything more thoroughly. I chose not to travel much this fall because I wanted to focus on spending more time with family and friends, so my pending work trip isn't something I originally had on my radar. I certainly didn't think I would potentially be traveling anywhere during a government shutdown and would otherwise avoid it for the reasons I expressed in this blog post.

If you share any of my same concerns or have additional concerns that I didn't write about, know that you are not alone in having those worries. There are a lot of lives being negatively impacted by the government shutdown and people are trying their best to navigate tough situations that have no end date in sight. For those of us that find ourselves traveling during this time, remember to plan ahead for any potential delays or cancellations and really think about all the different scenarios that could play out. More importantly, practice patience and kindness with yourself and others that you encounter. Times are stressful and it's not worth adding or creating additional stress for yourself and others for things that we don't have direct control over but know to expect.

Feel free to leave comments below or leave a post/message on Facebook and share whether you have these same concerns or different ones about traveling during the U.S. government shutdown. Exclusive video and photo content only on Instagram.