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Agents take steps to prepare for sequestration
In this first week of the US federal austerity program known as sequestration, the US travel industry will feel little pain.
But smart insiders already are preparing for the day those $85 billion in funding cuts work their way down to the travelers in their care.
If no deal is struck soon, "it would be like perpetual bad weather with all the associated disruptions," until eventually travelers begin to lose confidence in the travel system and postpone trips, Business Travel Coalition chairman Kevin Mitchell told TravelMole.
"If I were an agency or TMC, I would be communicating support plans to my clients and to the press," Mitchell said.
"Agencies might make their support desks and after-hour support phone lines more robust during this period," and view it as an opportunity to shine by being proactive in rerouting and caring for confused customers.
It will take about a month for cuts to reach the staff of the Transportation Security Administration, for example, but then as many as 50,000 employees might be furloughed for as long as a week, director John Pistole has said, forcing airports to close security lanes and backing up lines at busy times like Memorial Day weekend.
The Federal Aviation Administration already has informed contractors that it will close 168 small, contractor-staffed air traffic control towers on April 1, and another 21 towers by Sept. 30, according to CNN.
The towers handle almost 6% of all commercial airline traffic, and an even larger share of business and private airplane traffic.
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