As the partial government shutdown nears the one-month mark, some travelers have found themselves stuck in hours-long security lines at select airports across the US.
On Sunday, March 8, major hubs like Houston Hobby International Airport (HOU) and New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY) reported TSA lines up to 3.5 hours long, with viral videos showing lines overflowing outside the terminal and into the parking lot. Early Friday morning, lines for security at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) in Texas stretched out the door for about two hours, according to local news reports.
Besides these extreme cases, most airports in the US are now experiencing close-to-average wait times. However, that could soon change after TSA workers miss their first full paycheck on Friday.
Staff absences have more than doubled since the funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ended on February 14, CBS News reported, and DHS officials say that more than 300 TSA officers have quit since the current shutdown began. While the situation will continue to vary at every airport, one leader of a federal union for TSA officers told the New York Times that he expects a “drastic change” in the number of TSA officers showing up for work after their pay officially stops on Friday.
It hasn’t helped matters that the worker shortage is coinciding with peak spring break travel, during which a record-breaking 171 million passengers are expected to fly. Some airports like AUS are expecting their busiest times in terms of passenger volume to hit at the end of March and early April.
Meanwhile, many US hubs continue to operate as normal. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), for instance, posted online on Friday that its checkpoints all had normal wait times, while at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Friday wait times were only two minutes long. At New York-area airports, security operations were moving a bit slower on Friday, with wait times at Newark Liberty International and New York-JFK ranging up to 30 minutes for the general TSA checkpoint in certain terminals.
The situation at each airport continues to fluctuate on a daily basis. On Thursday, for instance, TSA began a temporary closure of Terminal C at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) due to low security staffing numbers. TSA officers will be reassigned from Terminal C to checkpoints in other terminals at PHL to help those lines move faster, a strategy which appeared to be working on Friday, as all of the airport’s open terminals were seeing normal wait times on Friday.
Regardless of which airport you’re flying out of, here’s how travelers can prepare.
How can I check TSA wait times before my flight?
Travelers should check their airport’s website for the latest information on TSA wait times. Most major airports post updated estimates every hour for each security checkpoint across terminals.
It’s important to note that the TSA posts estimated wait times for every US airport in the MyTSA app, but those numbers are usually averages based on historical data, and not live updates. So they might not be accurate given the current circumstances.
How to access expedited TSA lanes
There are a few ways travelers can prepare to navigate snarled security checkpoints. TSA PreCheck and Global Entry are both currently up and running. Enrolling in TSA PreCheck gives passengers access to expedited screening lanes, where they don’t have to remove liquids or large electronics from their bags. However, PreCheck applications can take several days to a few weeks to process.
