TSA wait times: How to check them online

If you are one of the millions of travelers affected by hours-long TSA wait times, or if you are one of the thousands of TSA agents working without pay during the partial federal government shutdown: I’m sorry.

As of March 24, more than 2 million travelers passed through TSA daily, experiencing wait times of up to 6 hours at the busiest airports. More than 480 TSA agents have resigned in the 40 days since funding for the Department of Homeland Security expired. Another 3,000 called for unemployment. The agents, who earn an average of $35,000 a year, have now missed two full pay periods.

The situation has been exacerbated by the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at U.S. terminals. Deployed by the Trump administration as a proposed solution to staffing shortages, the flyers have previously reported ICE agents detaining flyers at San Francisco International Airport.

Most major airports now recommend travelers arrive about 4 hours before their flight to skip the lines with time to spare.

Can I check TSA wait times?

Short answer: Yes. There are several sites online that track security wait times, including trackers hosted by the major terminals themselves. The Department of Homeland Security has already encouraged travelers to download the MyTSA app to check security schedules, for example.

But just like unreliable amusement park apps that tell you the wait for rides is only 30 minutes (it never is), these websites aren’t entirely accurate. And, worse, most federally run trackers are no longer maintained or updated during the government shutdown. This is also why third-party trackers, which often pull their data from publicly available APIs, can be just as inaccurate.

Most major airports, like New York’s JFK, have begun disabling their own wait time tracking tools due to inaccuracies and delays. The JFK home page even displays an alert:

“Due to the lack of federal funding, wait times for security screening may be significantly longer than normal. Wait times are subject to rapid change based on passenger volume and TSA staffing. For these reasons, wait time reporting has been temporarily suspended. Please allow significantly more time and check with your airline for the current status of your flight.”

With official channels dwindling, your best bet might just be your fellow travelers.

Reddit users on r/delta and r/airport, for example, share live updates about their expectations and post photos of current lines – subreddits in cities particularly hard hit by staff shortages also actively update TSA megathreads, like r/houston and r/atlanta. Others took to r/TSA to try to seek advice directly from security officers. TikTok is full of people blogging about their expectations – using these anecdotes as a reference can help you plan more effectively.

Can I shorten my wait?

The standard advice is to purchase TSA PreCheck, a paid authorization service that allows travelers to skip many steps in the security process and wait in a separate line from non-payers. There is also CLEAR, an identity verification service that travelers can use to avoid identity check queues.

Both services are intended to get travelers through airports faster, but online users have reported that even PreCheck lines snake through terminals, with some viral videos showing longer wait times than standard TSA lines. Some busy airports have also closed their PreCheck and Clear lines, including Houston’s Bush Airport, due to staff shortages.

If you travel without RealID – which is now required for travel, at least on paper – and you don’t have another valid form of identification, you must pay a fee to the TSA. Before you enter the security line at the airport. It is known as the TSA ConfirmID program and requires a more complex security screening and search than traditional TSA. However, at some airports, this screening is done outside of general security lines, much like how TSA PreCheck works.

Anecdotally, a visiting friend who flew out of JFK on March 21 told me she got through TSA in about 30 minutes, avoiding lines because she was flagged for a TSA ConfirmID check (she didn’t have a passport or RealID).

What happens if I miss my flight?

Generally, airlines are not responsible for accommodating travelers who miss their flights due to security delays. But they also know that the airports are currently in a state of total disorder.

Allegiant Air said it is temporarily waiving cancellation and change fees for passengers impacted by TSA staffing shortages. For now, Delta has issued a similar waiver for March 24 travelers departing from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. United said it would change reservations for free for passengers with flights departing from Houston on March 23 and 24 and eliminated “most” ticket change fees, CBS reported.

In an email addressed to New York Timesa Southwest spokesperson said: “If a customer is unable to make their flight due to TSA wait times, we will rebook them on the next available flight at no additional cost. »