The US government must resolve the 59-day long partial shutdown impacting the Transportation Security Administration that has caused havoc at airports before the country hosts the World Cup this summer, said Caryn Seidman Becker, CEO of identification platform Clear.
“Travelers cannot be political footballs 58 days ahead of the World Cup,” she said at Semafor World Economy in Washington, DC, on Tuesday. “This cannot be how we operate our travel industry when we lead in innovation in the US.”
“Traveling is hard and getting harder,” she added.
Clear has benefitted from the longer wait times at airports, with travelers flocking to the service that lets users bypass traditional screening checks. App downloads on one day in March were up more than 600% compared to the daily average over two previous months, The Guardian reported, and shares in the company have increased 50% since the shutdown began.
Seidman Becker’s statement echoes earlier comments made at Semafor World Economy by Southwest CEO Bob Jordan, who said that it is “a shame when our air traffic controllers and our TSA agents … are used as political pawns to get a deal done.”
The World Cup is “58 days and counting,” Seidman Becker said. “Better get moving.”