Delta Airlines Suspends Travel Perks for Congress, Because Screw Those Lazy Legislators
Maybe if Delta forces Congressmen to wait in 4 hour TSA lines, they'll care enough to do their jobs.
Photo via Unsplash, Forsaken Films Splinter airlines
If there’s one maxim that has rarely ever failed when it comes to Congress and its productivity or lack thereof, it’s that the moment the same inconveniences fall on members of the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate that are experienced by their constituents, Congress suddenly seems to get a lot more interested in finding solutions. Presumably that’s what Delta Airlines was thinking today when they announced that they would be temporarily stripping members of Congress of the various travel perks they traditionally receive, as American airports grapple with understaffing and long wait times caused by the lack of TSA/airport security staff during the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Delta notably operates out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as its primary hub, which consistently ranks as one of the busiest and most active airports in the world. The Atlanta airport has been seemingly hit particularly hard by TSA resignations and call-outs, with up to 40% of the local TSA agents reportedly calling out, resulting in security wait times at peak hours that have stretched to two, three and four hours–difficult to measure, as the airport has not-at-all-suspiciously stopped publicly reporting its wait times. Other TSA agents continue to work without paychecks, while President Donald Trump has sought to make a combustible situation that much more fraught this week by deploying ICE agents to airports to theoretically take on some of their responsibilities, which has mostly resulted in immigration agents … standing around and generally getting in the way of both airport staff and travelers.
Delta is officially suspending travel perks for members of Congress until Republicans stop blocking TSA funding.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen.bsky.social) Mar 24, 2026 at 11:19 AM
Members of Congress, meanwhile, are used to having the red carpet rolled out for them at airports, typically receiving security escorts, private security screenings and the “red coat services” of personal Delta reps who can solve problems such as missed connections or rebooking. The airline, however, is suspending all of those, presumably due to lack of staffing. As Delta put it in its statement: “Next to safety, Delta’s no. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.”
It’s unclear how long said perks will remain suspended, but Delta CEO Ed Bastian has persistently been registering his impatience with the lack of any substantive negotiation or compromise happening on this issue within the halls of Capitol Hill. As Bastian told CNBC last week: “It’s inexcusable that our security agents, front-line workers central to what we do, are not being paid. We’re outraged. Let’s get our people who are essential to our security paid quickly.”
One prominent member of Congress who we can only imagine will be Big Mad about this news, given her prior history, is South Carolina’s famously vain Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who already has a notable airport incident to her name. Back in October, Mace threw a hissy fit at Charleston’s airport when a “minor miscommunication” resulted in TSA agents not immediately being on hand to escort her through the airport. In footage captured by security cameras and later released, Mace could be heard berating the federal TSA agents for not treating her as a big shot member of Congress clearly deserves to be treated, swearing at anyone within earshot as she said “I’m sick of your shit. I’m tired of having to wait. I should not have to wait. You guys are always fucking late, this is fucking ridiculous.” I don’t suppose we’re lucky enough that Mace is currently traveling through Atlanta? Her meltdown after being made to wait in a four hour TSA line with the southern hoi polloi would almost be worth the utterly disastrous toll that all of this mess is taking on U.S. travel.
Or…Trump could just reopen TSA! Democrats have put legislation on the floor a half dozen times to reopen TSA and Republicans block it every time.
— Chris Murphy (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social) Mar 23, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Suffice to say, the only reason that TSA agents are still going unpaid at this point is because Republican members of Congress–who control both chambers–want it that way. Democratic members of both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have offered multiple clean bills specifically and exclusively to restore funding for TSA, only for Republicans to block those offers because they also want to open up the rest of DHS and especially retore future funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement without implementing any of the restrictions (such as masks and judicial warrants) that Democrats are seeking. It doesn’t seem to matter that Donald Trump’s approval rating is continuing to drop to new historic lows, or that voters appear to be blaming Trump and Republicans for this chaos, rather than Congressional Democrats–Trump has been completely unwilling to compromise in any way on restrictions for ICE, and the issue thus remains frozen. Congressional Republicans are currently attempting to sell the President on a compromise to open the rest of DHS while omitting money for ICE enforcement, but it’s questionable whether even this would convince Trump or generate Democratic support when Republicans are still desperately trying to avoid any actual reform of ICE. Even the Congressional GOP is quietly blaming Trump for the problem at this point.
In the meantime, airport chaos continues. But at least when it comes to Delta, our shiftless legislators will be standing right there in the winding TSA line with us. Perhaps a little inconvenience will be exactly what it takes to make the issue real for them. Maybe if we charge them for pretzels and water as well, that might move the needle?
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