Amid a prolonged government shutdown, airports nationwide are on the brink of closure due to unprecedented security wait times, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). This situation has been exacerbated by a significant number of TSA officers resigning or calling in sick, as they remain unpaid during the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) shutdown.

In recent weeks, the turmoil in air travel has intensified, with over 480 TSA officers stepping away from their roles. The crisis reached a pivotal point on Wednesday, marking the 40th day of the shutdown, when TSA’s acting administrator, Ha Nguyen McNeill, addressed the House Homeland Security Committee. She revealed that the agency is compelled to “consolidate,” potentially forcing smaller airports to cease operations.

“The situation is fluid, challenging, and unpredictable. We understand the frustration and disruption it causes,” McNeill stated before Congress, emphasizing that the current state is “unacceptable.”

Travelers are advised to arrive at airports more than two hours in advance due to sluggish security processes, with wait times averaging 270 minutes at some of the busiest airports in the country. The widespread impact is evident as TSA officials report callout rates exceeding 40 percent among their workforce.

Travelers have been urged to get to airports more than two hours early because security lines are so slow, as wait times have lasted an average of 270 minutes in some of America’s busiest hubs.

Airports nationwide are experiencing surging callout rates higher than 40 percent among TSA employees, McNeil said. 

Nearly 50 percent of staff at Houston’s Hobby Airport called off Monday, leaving fewer employees to help control the swell of travel mayhem. 

Senators are currently chasing a deal that would fund much of DHS, including TSA agents. 

Airports across the country could soon close due to the chaos and lack of employees from the government shutdown

TSA acting administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told the House Homeland Security Committee that the agency is now ‘being forced to consolidate’ during a hearing on Wednesday

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump had Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents descend on some of the busiest airports in the US on Monday. 

The federal agents are still getting paid. 

According to the White House, the agents have helped decrease airport wait times in recent days, but did not specify how that’s been done. 

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the agents’ presence ‘is yielding results’, and that the Trump administration has ‘seen wait times decrease, not as much as we’d like.’ 

By midday Wednesday, New York’s LaGuardia Airport saw a line that virtually extended the entire length of Terminal B, the Associated Press reported. 

While many are experiencing lengthy wait times, and even flight delays and cancelations, other travelers have reported having a breeze of a time getting through their travels. 

On Tuesday, Rod Redcay got to the Philadelphia airport two hours early and said he ‘walked right up’ to the security checkpoint. 

‘The only snag was forgetting to grab my laptop at security! Only noticed when I got to the gate. Thankfully I had plenty of time to look for it,’ Redcay wrote on Facebook. 

President Donald Trump had Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents descend on some of the busiest airports in the US on Monday

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the agents’ presence ‘is yielding results’, and that the Trump administration has ‘seen wait times decrease, not as much as we’d like’ 

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are known as the least busy travel days at airports, offering less hassle and lower fares. 

The wave of flight chaos has gotten so severe that travelers are reporting suffering health-related symptoms while on long lines, with one suffering a panic attack while stuck underground in a TSA line at a Houston airport. 

When Meg Lauck entered the TSA line at George W. Bush airport on Tuesday, the sea of people curled up to three floors deep and flowed back all the way into the basement, something she referred to as a ‘hellhole.’ 

‘I’m sorry, it’s really bad. We’re underground,’ she told ABC 13. ‘I have some claustrophobia. This is not pleasant.’ 

The experience left her so traumatized that she was forced to leave the airport and rent a car to drive back to New Orleans, Louisiana, Lauck said. 

Fliers in Houston are facing some of the longest TSA lines in the country, with travelers waiting around for more than two hours in Terminal A and E on Wednesday, KHOU 11 reported. 

The airport has faced a high number of callouts, with 36 percent of TSA staff not coming in for their shifts.