It's not over yet.

Last week, as the TSA struggled through its latest funding lapse, the scenes at America's airports were unfiltered chaos. At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, security lines spilled out the doors. Officials said they were the longest TSA lines in the agency's history.

At the height of the crisis, wait times hit a staggering 6 hours in major airline hubs. More than 480 officers have resigned, and 3,200 others have been calling in sick as the lack of paychecks made basic necessities like gas and child care impossible to afford.

Late Friday, the president signed an executive order to begin paying roughly 60,000 TSA agents immediately, using funds from a previous tax bill to bypass the congressional deadlock.

Before this order, the administration attempted a controversial fix: deploying hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to 14 major airports. While supporters like Senator Mike Rounds (R.-S.D.) argued any extra hands help relieve pressure, critics pointed out that ICE agents aren't trained to operate magnetometers or scan carry-ons. They've mostly been relegated to checking IDs and guarding exit lanes. (We had this debate on Saturday, and an overwhelming number of readers said ICE agents don't belong at the airport.)

The good news is that relief is on the horizon. With the pay order signed, experts predict security lines will go back to normal by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest as TSA employees return to their posts. 

Until then:

Pro tip: I'm not as optimistic as the experts. In past shutdowns, it took two weeks to a month to get the paychecks to government employees, and if that happens this time, the lines could last longer. Also, there have been hundreds of resignations, which will take months to replace.

The takeaway: Wait until Wednesday to fly if you can. If you want to play it safe, postpone your trip until next week.

We had quite a debate on the merits of the Jones Act, the century-old protectionist legislation that has cost American travelers a lot of money in fines and lost vacations. Isn't it time we started treating 19th-century protectionism like the relic it is—and giving it a decent burial at sea? We shouldn't need a war in the Middle East to get reasonable rules for cruise passengers.

The travel industry usually moves at the speed of a dial-up modem. But something strange happened on the way to the airport this year. More than half of American travelers—56 percent, to be exact—have started using artificial intelligence to plan, book, or navigate trips. That’s up from 43 percent just a few months ago.

According to a new study by Phocuswright, this is the fastest behavioral shift we’ve seen in a decade. Travelers are no longer just experimenting with ChatGPT or Gemini. They’re making it the core of their research. 

But before you let a bot handle your entire itinerary, we need to talk about the fine print.

The Phocuswright report reveals that usage of generative AI for trip research has quintupled since 2024. It’s now being used at about the same rate as search engines such as Google. While millennials and Gen Z are leading the pack, even baby boomers have doubled their adoption in just six months.

Travelers are using AI for real-time recommendations on what to do once they arrive, with 95 percent of users claiming it's "helpful" for things like navigation and managing reservations. 

But here’s the catch: only 8 percent of travelers think AI answers are enough on their own. Most of them still feel the need to click through to a real website to make sure the bot isn't making stuff  up.

You can't trust everything a machine tells you. AI hallucinations—where the bot confidently gives you the wrong hours for a museum or suggests a flight connection that's physically impossible to make—are a growing problem.

To protect yourself, you need to treat AI like a smart intern. Use it to brainstorm ideas, but never let it have the final word. Always verify the vital details like visa requirements or hotel locations directly with the source. 

If an AI finds an airfare or a deal that looks too good to be true, it probably is.

The takeaway: Use AI for your ideas, but never book a trip based on an AI itinerary without verifying every single detail with a human or an official website first.

It's fascinating to watch the travel world pivot toward silicon-based assistants, especially when the human element at the airport is under such strain. 

As I noted in a recent piece for Forbes, we're witnessing a resurgence in deeply personalized human travel advisors, who can extract you from difficult situations like war zones.

But this week, we also learned about the limits of AI when it comes to airport wait times. Did anyone find accurate information about delays on ChatGPT or Gemini? (I know I didn't.)

The bottom line for consumers is that human travel advisors are as important—and perhaps more important—than ever. So are, ahem, human advocates.

Something to remember before you plan your next trip.

It’s going to be another interesting week on the road. Where are you going and how do you plan to deal with the long TSA lines? Our comments are open.