Travel at major U.S. airports turned into a nightmare Sunday, with up to three-hour security wait times and a shortage of TSA workers at the start of spring break travel amid the partial government shutdown.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Lauren Bis said travelers are facing missed flights and massive delays. She blamed the chaos on congressional Democrats' refusal to fund DHS, which led to the partial shutdown.
“These political stunts force patriotic TSA officers, who protect our skies from serious threats, to work without pay,” she said in a statement. “These frontline heroes received only partial paychecks earlier this month and now face their first full missed paycheck, leading to financial hardship, absences, and crippling staffing shortages.”
DHS funding expired Feb. 13, with lawmakers locking horns over ICE and Customs and Border Protection policies after federal agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis. Democrats are seeking reforms to rein in those agencies, but Republicans have argued that changes were already made in response to the killings.
The impasse triggered the partial shutdown affecting DHS, which affects the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard.
TSA officers, who are considered essential employees, must work without pay while the funding bill is stalled in Congress. This week starts the bustling spring break travel period.
William P. Hobby Airport in Houston was experiencing wait times of 2 hours and 45 minutes just before noon Sunday, according to federal officials.
The airport warned on X that TSA wait times may exceed three hours. “Due to the federal government shutdown, passengers should arrive 4-5 hours before their flight to allow extra time for TSA screening,” it said.
A Southwest Airlines traveler shared a photo showing packed lines at the airport. She said that she was in an hour-and-a-half line to check her baggage and that her flight was due to leave in 2.5 hours.
“TSA isn’t working so security is basically shut down!! They say the security line is at least four hours long right now,” she wrote.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport had wait times of an hour, while George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston had wait times of 51 minutes and Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina had delays of 47 minutes, officials said.
The New Orleans airport also warned that a shortage of TSA workers at security checkpoints was causing "longer-than-average lines." Travelers were asked to arrive at least three hours before departure.
Airlines for America, a trade association whose members include American, Delta, United and Southwest, on Sunday decried what it characterized as the use of transportation security workers for "political leverage" and the subsequent delays and strain on the aviation system.
“We are in spring break travel season and expecting record numbers of people to take to the skies," the association's president and CEO, Chris Sununu, said in a statement. "Airlines have done their part to prepare; now Congress and the administration must act with urgency to reach a deal that reopens DHS and ends this shutdown."
The White House and Senate Democrats have traded offers in past weeks but have thus far failed to reach a funding breakthrough.
Republicans sought to use the Iran war to pressure Democrats to relent on their demands, but Democrats have refused.
It has been a year under embattlement for TSA workers, who already went weeks without pay during the 43-day shutdown that ended in November.
