Airport Security Delays Are Surging: See How Long You’ll Wait

Transportation Security Administration employees have not been paid since the partial government shutdown began on Feb. 14, and staffing shortages are starting to pile up.

The TSA crisis and spring break travel are now limiting some airport security lines in the United States. At least one airport, Houston’s Hobby – which experienced extreme queues last weekend – is now telling travelers they must arrive three hours early for domestic flights or four hours early for international flights.

Don’t be surprised when you arrive at the airport and see the security line stretching all the way to the parking lot. It’s easy to check security lines before you leave for the airport, so you know how long it will take you to get from check-in to your boarding gate.

If you’re planning spring break or other air travel soon, learn how to check security line wait times so you can better plan your airport trip.

Check out the official TSA app

The TSA maintains an app for mobile devices called MyTSA (iOS and Android) that tracks security line wait times for airports in the United States. The app is pretty basic and now includes a disclaimer that “this website is not actively maintained” due to the federal funding pause, but it includes plenty of official TSA information about air travel.

To check wait times for specific U.S. airports, tap the My Airports tab at the bottom of the app, then tap “Find Airports.” You can scroll through the alphabetical list of airports or enter an airport name or code in the search bar at the top.

Tap to your desired airport and you will see the current estimated security wait time at the top of the screen.

And when I checked Friday morning at some of the major airports — Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta (ATL), JFK in New York (JFK), and Ronald Reagan in DC (DCA) — all had estimated relatively low wait times of 0 to 15 or 15 to 30 minutes. We are a long way from the two to four hours that airports advise travelers to allow, but it must be recognized that waiting times are constantly evolving.

The app also includes a historical average of wait times at security lines at each airport, depending on the time of day.

Check your airport website

When I tested the TSA app, it did not list any specific terminals at any of the airports. It only listed a time slot for “All Terminals”.

If you want this kind of detailed information, your best bet is to use official airport websites: most major ones now offer estimated wait times for security checks. Some airports put these estimated times front and center on their websites; others require a little more exploration.

Most airport websites detail schedules for specific terminals. At some of the larger airports, there is often a large disparity between terminals.

Here are the web pages showing the estimated queues for security screening at some of the busiest airports in the United States:

I couldn’t find security line wait times on the websites of two of the busiest airports: O’Hare in Chicago and Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas. For these, you will need to use the TSA app.

Save your place

Many airports now allow travelers to reserve a specific time in the security line. At Seattle SeaTac Airport, you make a Spot Saver reservation and go to a specially marked entrance to the security checkpoint listed on your reservation. An employee scans the barcode emailed to you and you are taken to the front. At SeaTac, you can be up to 15 minutes before or after your Spot Saver reservation, as airport times are difficult to estimate.

Here is a list of some of these booking sites. You can search the name of your airport and “reserve security line point” or something similar to see if your airport also has a program.