GoKawiilTSA lines at major US airports are easing, but with the partial government shutdown still unresolved, the long lines travelers saw last week could return.
It got so bad that travelers began paying people to stand in line for them, Bloomberg reports.
Steven Dial, a Houston resident, charges $65 per hour to wait in TSA lines, plus $6 per hour for parking. Within 24 hours of posting his services on social media, Dial had hundreds of inquiries and a full day of bookings. The longest he’s waited for a customer was three hours, earning him $213.
Jimmy Payne, another entrepreneur, initially posted his line-sitting offer as a joke. Now he’s planning to charge $1,200 at Atlanta’s airport and $800 in Houston, where TSA lines have topped four hours. He’s received hundreds of inquiries from potential customers and people wanting to work for him. The chaos has also boosted private jet bookings, which have skyrocketed 39% since the shutdown began.