War, oil, and an unpaid TSA: The perfect storm of travel chaos feels like the pandemic all over again

A regional war filled with missiles and drones flying overhead has dismantled the Middle Eastern airspace. The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil costs skyrocketing. A partial government shutdown has left 50,000 TSA agents working without pay for more than a month. It’s everything, everywhere, all at once, forcing travelers to rethink their plans as the landscape begins to mirror something we’ve experienced a few years earlier during the pandemic.

“It’s a crazy situation,” said Eric Napoli...