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

Transportation Security Administration employees haven’t been paid since the partial government shutdown began on Feb. 14, and staffing shortages are starting to add up.

The TSA crunch and spring break travel are now throttling some airport security lines across the US. At least one airport, Houston’s Hobby — which experienced extreme security line waits last weekend — is now telling fliers they need to arrive three hours early for domestic flights or four hours early for international flights.

Don’t be surprised when you get to the airport and see the security line trailing out into the parking lot. It’s easy to check security wait lines before you leave for the airport, so you know how long it will take you to get from check-in to your gate.

If you have spring break or other planned air travel coming soon, learn how you can check security line wait times so you can better plan your trip to the airport.

Check the official TSA app

The TSA maintains an app for mobile devices called MyTSA (iOS and Android) that lists security line wait times for airports around the US. The app is fairly basic and now includes a warning that “this website is not actively managed” due to the pause in federal funding, but it does include plenty of official TSA information about airline travel.

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

Tap through to the airport of your choice, and you’ll see the current estimated security wait time at the top of the screen.

And when I checked some of the major airports Friday morning — 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. A far cry from the two to four hours that airports are advising travelers to allow, but admittedly, wait times shift constantly.

The app also includes a historical average for each airport’s security line wait time by time of day. 

Check your airport’s website

When I tested the TSA app, it didn’t list specific terminals at any of the airports. It only listed a time range for “All Terminals.” 

If you want that sort of detailed information, your best bet is to use the official airport websites — most of the major ones now offer estimated security wait times. Some airports put those estimated times front and center on their websites; others require a little more exploration.

Most airport websites will break out the times for specific terminals. At some of the bigger airports, there’s often quite a disparity between the terminals.

Here are the web pages for estimated security wait lines for some of the most frequently traveled airports in the US:

I wasn’t able to find security line wait times on the websites for two of the busiest airports — O’Hare in Chicago and Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas. For those, you’ll need to use the TSA app.

Save your spot

Numerous airports now allow travelers to reserve a specific time in the security line. At Seattle’s 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 you were emailed, and you’re ushered to the front. At SeaTac, you can be up to 15 minutes before or after your Spot Saver reservation, since airport timing is tough to estimate.

Here’s a list of some of those reservation sites. You can search for your airport name and “reserve security line spot” or something similar to see if your airport also has a program.