US airport wait times longest in history after hundreds of unpaid officers leave
Passengers wait in a security checkpoint line at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
Photo: AP The Transportation Security Administration warned that US airport security was under severe strain as a weeks-long Department of Homeland Security funding shutdown drives staffing shortages, long wait times and mounting disruptions across the United States. “This has led to the highest wait times in TSA history, with some wait times greater than 4½ hours,” Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers on Wednesday, adding the agency has already lost more than 480 transportation security officers during the funding lapse.
Airports that have been significantly hit include those in Atlanta, Houston and New York.
Lines have snaked through terminals, baggage claims and even outside in some cases, going viral on social media where frustrated passengers griped about the waits and the potential of missed flights.
Early Wednesday morning, videos posted to X showed long lines at LaGuardia Airport in New York City winding through the facility.
Typically wait times are posted on LaGuardia’s website, but due to the rapidly-changing situation, updates have been suspended.
People wait in long security lines at LaGuardia Airport, New York City.
Photo: AFP Lawmakers from both parties used a House Homeland Security Committee hearing to press McNeill on the operational impact of the shutdown and the agency’s response.
Republicans said the funding lapse is weakening national security and straining frontline personnel, while Democrats challenged the administration’s reliance on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to support airport operations.
The airport staffing crunch was worsening as the funding lapse continues. “We did see spikes in attrition,” McNeill said, noting the agency is closely tracking losses as employees leave or call out after missing paycheques.
At some major airports, as many as 40 per cent to 50 per cent of officers have called out on certain days, forcing TSA to consolidate screening lanes and scale back operations as lines stretch for hours.
The shutdown, now about 40 days after funding lapsed on February 14, remains deadlocked in Washington amid disputes over immigration enforcement policy.
Senate Republicans rejected a bid from Democrats to end the partial shutdown.
Democrats have pushed for reforms that would scale back immigration operations in the wake of several violent incidents.
Majority Leader John Thune said th
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