A couple of years ago, a reporter asked Blackpool FC’s manager at the time, Mick McCarthy, about his team’s terrible form, saying, “One win in 17. It can’t go on like this, can it?” The Irishman took a beat, smiled grimly and said, “It can.”
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 going on 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 to flyers 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 and those that remain are less cheerful than usual. Many are calling in sick so they can work second jobs that actually pay them for their labor. The result is fewer open checkpoints and lines that can stretch toward the taxi stands.
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