- Heather Wagenknecht takes ~150 flights a year and spends as little time as possible in airports.
- TSA and air traffic control staffing shortages have disrupted her travel routine and added stress.
- She's now driving to destinations she would've flown to in the past and losing time with her kids.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Heather Wagenknecht, a vice president of sales for a company that deploys towers for public safety and telecom from Batavia, Illinois. It has been edited for length and clarity.
As the VP of sales for my company, I average between 100 and 150 flights a year, and I have 13 flights just this month alone.
I spend so much time in airports, I don't want to be there a minute longer than I have to.
My typical airport schedule is to arrive 15 to 20 minutes before my flight boards and park in the garage. I head to the CLEAR plus PreCheck line, walk through, fill up my water bottle, go to the bathroom, and get on the plane.
That's my routine. I have United Club access in case something doesn't go as planned, but my goal is never to use it.
I'd say 90% of the time this works for me. Have I missed a flight? Sure, but it's few and far between.
Longer lines and short-staffed air traffic control has impacted my recent trips
In the beginning of March, that's when I started seeing slower TSA lines. And it wasn't even slower lines, they just didn't have as many lines open, which then caused a backlog — even to the PreCheck lines.
It's not just longer lines; air traffic control (ATC) has also been impacted.
Coming home last week from San Diego, my flight was delayed. We were in the air, and we got rerouted for over an hour because they said ATC was short-staffed, so they had to slow down planes coming into O'Hare.
In recent weeks, I've opted to drive when I usually would've flown
I took my daughter to her admitted students day in Kentucky this week, and had this stuff not been going on, we would've just flown to Lexington. It's rare you're going to get me in a car for six hours if I could fly. It's just easier for me.
Typically, I fly to Detroit, Indianapolis, and Des Moines from my home airport of Chicago O'Hare. And right now I'd drive to any of those instead of flying, just to avoid the airports.
I'm arriving at the airport earlier than I usually would
My main travel concern this week is the additional wait time at the airport, because the lines are throwing a kink in my routine. I know that sounds so selfish, because obviously, people aren't getting paid.
To combat the long lines, I'm now trying to get there an hour before boarding begins, and I'm doing it begrudgingly.
My family is going to Mexico on Saturday, and with checking bags we'll probably leave an hour and a half earlier than normal, and we all have CLEAR plus PreCheck.
The travel chaos is impacting my work and home life
All of this is making my job more stressful.
For a meeting in San Francisco this week, one of my colleagues was coming from Atlanta, and he got to the airport like two hours beforehand and decided he was leaving. He said Atlanta was a mess. So we decided to cancel the meeting and make it virtual, which was fine, but it's still inconvenient for the customers.
For my personal life, it means earlier mornings. I try to spend as much time at home as I can, since I'm gone so much. Leaving for the airport three hours instead of an hour early means that's less I'm doing to help get kids out the door.
My tips for travelers during these difficult times
The advice I have is, if you can get PreCheck, do it. If you can get touchless ID, do it. And if you are willing to pay for CLEAR, I'd say do it.
All three of those lines for the past six weeks have been better than the non-PreCheck lines. For our Mexico trip, we're going with three other families and I told them: You need to make sure everybody in your family has PreCheck.
My bottom line message is patience. Stay flexible, and if you can, just get there early.
And just know that it sucks. It sucks for everybody.
Are you a frequent business traveler with a story to share about how you're handling the current travel situation? Contact this editor, Debbie Strong, at dstrong@businessinsider.com.
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