As spring break unfolds, travelers are facing prolonged waits at major U.S. airports, even after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to reduce lengthy security lines by ensuring Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers receive their pay.
The executive order, signed on Friday, directs the Department of Homeland Security to expedite payments to TSA staff. However, the timing of when this measure will ease airport congestion remains uncertain.
This move comes during a traditionally busy travel period, as school and college spring breaks coincide with the upcoming Passover and Easter holidays, prompting a surge in airport traffic.
Betty Mitchell, who arrived at Philadelphia International Airport at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday for a 5 a.m. flight to visit family, encountered delays when the airline desk only opened at 3 a.m. The subsequent rush of passengers led to crowded TSA screening lines.
“Suddenly, it turned into a madhouse,” Mitchell recounted.
After enduring nearly three hours in line, Mitchell missed her initial flight but managed to secure a seat on the next available one.
“It was crazy long lines,” she said. “Never have I seen it that long. If the airlines work with TSA in these trouble(d) times, maybe it would help the public.”
What’s the current situation on the ground?
Some passengers with very early flights on Saturday reported having little problem getting through airport security lines. But that may have been an anomaly. Others at some of the busiest airports wrote on social media that security lines were growing exponentially longer by the hour.
“We have not previously experienced checkpoint wait times similar to what we are seeing this morning,” Baltimore-Washington International Airport said in a post Saturday on the social platform X. BWI officials recommended travelers arrive four hours before their scheduled departure time.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also said in a post on X that more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were being deployed to BWI. According to the post, the Maryland Aviation Administration was alerted to the move on Saturday.
“We have been told by ICE their personnel will provide operational support and assist at TSA security checkpoints to speed up the clearance process for passengers – not immigration enforcement.”
When will TSA employees be paid?
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said TSA personnel could get paid as soon as Monday, a relief for workers who have gone without pay since Feb. 14.
While that is welcome news to many, it remains to be seen whether that promise materializes on schedule and if it brings an immediate end to snaking lines at airports.
Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former TSA officer who runs a travel newsletter called Gate Access, said the staffing crisis won’t improve significantly until officers are confident that they won’t be subjected to more skipped paychecks.
“If it’s only for a pay period, that’s not enough to bring them back,” Harmon-Marshall said. “It has to be an extended pay for them to come back or want to stay there.”
He estimates longer lines could linger for another week or two.
How soon will this help with airport delays?
It’s hard to tell. Airports that had passengers standing in screening lines that clogged check-in areas or showing up far too early for their flights will need to decide whether to reopen checkpoints or expedite service lanes they closed or consolidated due to inadequate staffing.
A handful of airports experienced daily TSA officer call-out rates of 40%. Nationwide on Thursday, more than 11.8% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, the most so far, DHS said Friday.
Nearly 500 of the agency’s nearly 50,000 officers have quit since the shutdown started, according to DHS.
Holly Reynolds Lee was supposed to be someplace tropical on Saturday night for her family’s spring break. By late afternoon, they were still trying to figure out how to get there.
Lee got to Baltimore-Washington International Airport three hours early for her morning flight but spent five hours alone sifting through a single TSA checkpoint. Her family missed their flight and were still sorting through their next options.
“The airport employees are doing the best they can and I know the airlines are doing the best they can,” Lee said. “We certainly have great sympathy for the TSA agents. They deserve to be paid. This is a failure of government, quite frankly. It’s just an absolute failure to get things solved for the American people.”
Lee said she was given the option to return to the airport Sunday for another flight.
“We’re concerned about another five-hour wait with TSA,” she said. “We would much prefer to go home, sleep in our own beds, come back tomorrow and try again. But I don’t think we can endure another five-hour wait. We asked the airline ‘get us out tonight, we don’t want to come back.’”
She said she felt sympathy for older adults and families who were waiting with small children. For them, “this is just an absolute nightmare,” she said.
How do I monitor wait times before my flight?
Check airport conditions early and often, including official websites and social media accounts where airports share timely updates and guidance, according to experts.
Many airports on Saturday urged passengers to allow at least four hours for both domestic and international screenings.
“Wait times can change quickly based on passenger volume and TSA staffing,” according to an advisory posted Saturday morning on the website of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
Wait times listed on the MyTSA mobile app may not be accurate because TSA isn’t actively managing its sites during the shutdown. On third-party websites that track TSA lines, estimated wait times could be outdated during the shutdown if they rely on publicly available data, experts say.
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