Private jet charter brokers and operators are getting a boost from pictures of long security lines at the airport and waits that range over an hour, which are becoming a staple of cable TV news coverage.

The absence rate for TSA employees has tripled to 6% in recent days, according to a CNN report this morning.

CNN, Fox News, and other outlets have reporters at airports across the country, including Austin and Atlanta.

Lines snake around corners and in some cases out the door.

Upset flyers lament missing flights that depart while they are still standing in line.

According to Forbes, TSA workers were paid until mid-February.

Two weeks ago, they received about 30% of their normal pay.

However, they are no longer getting paid.

The average TSA worker makes $46,000 to $55,000, according to the agency’s website.

What’s more, the Forbes report says it could take up to a month to catch up once a funding bill passes through Congress and is signed into law by the president.

Workers are having to seek other jobs to pay bills, say news reports.

It’s part of the latest partial government shutdown.

The result is interest in private flights is getting a boost. Google Trends shows on Sunday the term “private jet charter” was at its highest level of the past three months.

Actual private jet flying was already on the rise.

ARGUS TRAQPak data showed North American private flight hours increased 5.3% year-over-year in February. That followed a 1.3% year-over-year gain in January.

For private aviation, when there are problems with scheduled airlines, brokers and operators say they are beneficiaries.

The ARGUS analysts had forecast March flight hours clocked by private jets to increase by 3.9%.

Real Jet’s Kenny Dichter, speaking on “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business earlier today, told fellow panelists that private flyers benefit from security checks being conducted before they arrive at the airport and again by pilots before boarding.

Private jets use separate terminals, referred to as FBOs, meaning flyers don’t have to enter the main terminals and navigate snaking lines to get to their flights. They simply meet their pilots in the private terminal. The pilots verify IDs, and they walk out to their jets, and fly away.

FlyUSA’s Barry Shevlin says the Tampa-based private jet company picked up two clients specifically because of airport chaos. In both cases, they wanted to avoid flying out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Fly Alliance’s Chris Tasca said he picked up a trip for a family traveling from Savannah to Orlando for a planned celebration at Disney World who wanted to avoid a connection.

At the same time, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly why flyers are choosing private aviation.

Jetvia’s Nick Tyson says, “We had a ton of requests from Austin and Dallas to Florida yesterday.”

He said, “The phone was ringing off the hook, but we don’t always know the reason.”

Some of the interest was due to winter storms cancelling airline flights, brokers say.

There were 4,861 cancellations in the U.S. yesterday, according to FlightAware, after 3,992 cancellations on Sunday.

Unity Jets’ Kevin Diemar said the biggest impact he saw was due to winter weather cancellations.

Representatives from Jets.com and Outlier Jets said they had seen an uptick in jet card customers using their hours for private flights.

Outlier Jets’ Michael Farley says several members specifically mentioned avoiding the TSA meltdown when booking flights.

About 90% of private flyers switch back and forth between airlines and private jets, according to research by Private Jet Card Comparisons.

Monarch Air Group’s David Gitman said, “We do see a very large increase in ASAP flights, but it’s due to the commercial cancellations caused by the storm, not by the TSA situation.”

Last-minute bookings for same-day and next-day private flights are called ASAPs in industry lingo.

One aspect charter flyers should be aware of is that, in virtually all situations, the bookings can’t be cancelled, changed, or refunded if the flyer changes their mind.

That means if your plans change, it’s unlikely you will get a refund, and unlike the airlines, credits for future use are rare.

TLC Jet’s Justin Firestone said his firm had seen additional bookings due to both the storms and TSA.

Greg Raiff said his Elevate Aviation Group, which specializes in sports team and live entertainment charters, had gained several bookings from bands that wanted to make sure they would arrive on-time for their next gigs.

Tuvoli’s Greg Johnson says his analysis of data on private flights departing Austin and Atlanta, two cities getting a lot of media attention for delays at TSA security checkpoints, shows an uptick.

However, several brokers said it had been business as usual.

They also said at the end of the day, it will likely be a wash.

For any extra new trips, they also lost trips when clients postponed travel due to the storms.

According to CNN, the wait times listed on the TSA website only reflect the time from the entry point of the security area, not the additional time spent waiting until you get there. The channel said it was taking over two hours for some flyers to get through security in Atlanta this morning.