FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KFSM) — The partial government shutdown has now reached its third week, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers aren't getting paid.
As of Friday, TSA and FAA employees at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Bentonville and the Fort Smith Regional Airport are some of those workers who haven't seen a paycheck.
An XNA official told 5NEWS that wait times for passengers and the work ethic of staff members not currently being paid hasn't significantly changed so far.
Other airports across the country have not received the same feedback following the shutdown.
One XNA passenger said he is concerned after his experience going through security at Los Angeles International Airport when flying back to Northwest Arkansas Friday evening.
"I flew from LAX a lot of times to a lot of places and it's just totally different," Dorian Gerald said. "They didn't check my bag. Usually, they check stuff in my bag.. they didn't do that. Nothing. It was crazy."
Gerald said he became concerned when he noticed TSA employees at LAX did not ask passengers to remove their shoes to go through security.
"It was just way easier than usual," Gerald said. "I feel like they just didn't care."
If the shutdown continues into Saturday it will become the longest in United States history.