The Department of Homeland Security announced early Sunday morning that the TSA PreCheck and Global Entry Programs would close to preserve limited funds after the ongoing partial government shutdown.
In the announcement, DHS stated the closure would be in effect beginning at 3 a.m. on the West Coast.
As Pamela Blakeman got to the SLO County Airport for her 5 a.m. flight to Colorado, she said she knew about the shutdown before local TSA agents.
We thought, well, maybe it wasn’t true,” Blakeman said. “Then, when I was waiting for the flight that we’re on right now, it came on saying that they’re doing it on a case-by-case basis.
The TSA responded to the DHS announcement a few hours later, saying in a statement, TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change to the traveling public.
The DHS then amended its previous statement with a similar message.
It just seemed like it was a confusing thing because I’d read one thing where it was all canceled,” said Kathleen Hill, who was traveling from San Luis Obispo back to Texas Sunday morning. “We looked at that last night, I believe, and then this morning, they said, ‘Oh, no, wait, we changed our mind,’ so it’s confusing for passengers to know what to do.
Blakeman said she and her husband have been using the TSAs PreCheck feature for four years to help avoid longer lines at large airports. She said while she wasnt too concerned about her flight out of San Luis Obispo, after the back-to-back announcements, she was worried about the trip home.
I did give thought to when we fly home,” Blakeman said. “We fly out of Denver, which is one of the busiest airports that there is. I hope they figure this out before ten days when I come back home.
TSA PreCheck remained open as of Sunday afternoon. However, Kathleen Hill said the indecision and lack of a unified message are concerning for people who are looking to travel.
If you’re going to cancel it because of the shutdown, cancel it. If you’re not going to do it, don’t put out the information because it just adds stress to a day that doesn’t need stress,” she said.