Passengers traveling through Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport this summer may want to allow extra time to pass security.
The Florida airport has topped a list of America’s largest airports with the longest wait times at TSA checkpoints, according to a new study.
The findings came from analysists with the gaming marketplace CSDB.gg, who studied security wait time figures from Qsensor. They found that travelers at Fort Lauderdale’s main airport face average waits in line of a whipping 15 minutes 27 seconds.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport followed close behind, with average waits of 15 minutes 6 seconds and 14 minutes 29 seconds, respectively.
For their study, the researchers analyzed hourly TSA wait times across each day of the week for 2023 at America’s 31 busiest airport hubs—those with more than 10 million passengers annually—to identify the average delay at security checkpoints and highlight peak congestion times.
“We’re seeing a really big difference between the worst offending airports and the airports having the smoothest experience,” a spokesperson from CSDB.gg said in a statement.
“That’s ultimately going to be down to the organization and infrastructure put in place by management.”
“Travelers should take this ranking into consideration when booking flights as a calm airport experience is really a top priority for so many.”
The study placed San Diego International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in fourth and fifth positions respectively.
These were followed by Harry Reid International Airport in Nevada, Austin–Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, Salt Lake City International Airport, San Francisco International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
At Baltimore/Washington International, passengers waited an average of 10 minutes and 31 seconds in security lines.
However, that time rose significantly to 12 minutes and 58 seconds on Sundays, the airport’s busiest day.
The longest delays typically occurred around 8 p.m., when waits reached 17 minutes and 26 seconds. Conversely, the airport saw little to no wait times between midnight and 2 a.m.
Shortest Wait Times
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Chicago O’Hare International Airport recorded the shortest average wait time among the 31 airports surveyed, placing it last on the full list for delays.
The findings offer travelers a clearer sense of when and where they are most likely to face long waits—critical information as airports prepare for summer vacationers.
“It’s not a secret that traveling, and in particular, flying can be stressful,” the CSDB.gg spokesperson said.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re traveling for a vacation or for business, you want the process to be smooth and straightforward, with many not being able to take that sigh of relief until they’ve seen their gate and know they’re going to make their flight,” they added.
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