TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Some travelers at the Tampa International Airport are stranded as the government shutdown causes cancellations and delays across the country.
“It’s anxiety,” said Lawonda Nellem, whose flight to Chicago was delayed. “Your heart is racing because you want to get home.”
There were 556 flights scheduled in Tampa on Monday, and midday nearly half of all TPA’s flights were delayed or cancelled.
“It cost me another 500 bucks to get a hotel room and it just painful I need to go back to work,” said Carlos Fonseca, who travels for work out of New Hampshire.
“I’ve been looking for flights but some of them are like up to $3,000 just for a one-way,” said Jake Hall, another traveler.
TPA is one of several US airports scaling back flights this week as the government shutdown continues. Officials say the cutbacks are due to a lack of air traffic controllers.
“The shutdown did not have to take this long, it did not have to impact me personally,” said Fonseca. “It’s just really frustrating.”
Travelers say staff has been helpful, including TSA agents who are missing paychecks, and several said their gripe isn’t with airport staff, but with their elected officials.
“They keep talking about which side’s the problem and I don’t really care who the problem is,” said Jason Cagel, who was trying to find a flight to Dallas. “They just need to work through it because that’s what they’re supposed to do.”
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