Passengers traveling through Houston, New Orleans, Chicago, and other US airports experienced hourslong delays on Sunday and Monday as spring break travel peaked and the Transportation Security Administration experienced staffing shortages due to the ongoing partial government shutdown.
Nearly 2.8 million passengers passed through TSA checkpoints on Sunday, making it the agency’s busiest day since January 4. The partial government shutdown, which began in February, has also left TSA security checkpoints short-staffed into Monday as employees call in sick rather than work without pay.
“Southwest texted me early that morning to expect up to 3-hour lines, so I left early,” Chris Fenton, who traveled through Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Sunday, told Business Insider via direct message on X. “I never expected to see what I saw, though.”
The lines stretched from the security checkpoints, down an escalator, and out to the parking garage, snaking around the entire terminal multiple times, Fenton said. After reaching the TSA PreCheck and Clear lines, wait times extended by another 30 minutes.
While the airport is usually well prepared for busy travel times, like Sundays and the spring break season, the scale of the lines was “somewhat shocking,” Fenton said.
His total wait time was about an hour, but he said passengers without TSA PreCheck might have waited twice as long.
Some airports continued to advise passengers to anticipate longer-than-usual wait times on Monday, though the worst delays appeared to have eased, and not all airports appear to be impacted. While Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport told passengers to plan to arrive at least three hours before their flights, NOLA.com staff writer Justin Mitchell reported that it took him about one hour to get through security on Monday morning.
The TSA and the US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Photos showed the crowded airports amid the extended wait times.
On Sunday, passengers at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston waited in hourslong lines to get through airport security.
Airlines warned travelers of prolonged wait times on Sunday as the TSA experienced its busiest travel day since January 4 while grappling with staffing shortages.
The airport attributed the delays to the partial federal government shutdown.
Lines stretched outside the airport terminal and into the parking garage.
The Houston airport used green balloons to indicate the TSA PreCheck lines.
The standard TSA lines were marked with red balloons to help direct traffic.
William P. Hobby Airport warned passengers on Monday that TSA PreCheck lines “may extend beyond two hours.”
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport warned of “longer-than-average” wait times.
Travelers were advised to arrive at least 3 hours before their scheduled departure.
The airport said that wait times could reach 2 hours and that delays may persist throughout the rest of the week.
Passengers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport also encountered longer-than-usual lines on Monday morning.
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