On Tuesday, a sign at a TSA security checkpoint at Miami International Airport said the wait time was 18 minutes. It lied.
Taryn and Ryan Hart, a Dallas couple returning from Lima, Peru, stood in line for nearly two hours. To distract themselves, they counted the people ahead of them — hundreds, Taryn said — and tried to determine whether they would make their 7 a.m. flight home.
Fifteen minutes before takeoff, the couple, sweating from their sprint to the gate, boarded the plane. Other passengers in the security line weren’t so lucky.
“We had people in front of us and people behind us saying they had to skip ahead because they were going to miss their flight, or their flight had already started boarding,” said Taryn Hart, a travel content creator. “For a lot of people in the line, their flights just left.”
Five weeks into the partial government shutdown, the lines at airport security checkpoints across the country are longer, slower and more woeful. The strain on Transportation Security Administration officers, who missed their first paycheck this week, means fewer open lanes and a smaller cadre of employees manning the checkpoints. While passengers wait to clear security, their boarding times come and go and their planes lift off — without them.
Rebecca Bendheim and her fiancée arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 5:15 a.m. to catch their morning flight to Vail, Colorado. The couple usually show up an hour in advance, gliding onto the plane. However, for their March 13 flight from Texas, they added a 30-minute buffer against the spring break crush. It still wasn’t enough time.
For starters, the pair lost significant time trying to locate the end of the security line.
“There were people looping through the airport, back and forth, so we followed it, and followed it, and followed it out the door, along the sidewalk, to the right and then all the way down the grass until we were basically on the road,” said Bendheim, a children’s book author whose video of the airport scene garnered 23.5 million views on social media. “We were flabbergasted.”
Shortly after joining the queue, they knew it was too late. They would need at least two hours; they had one. So they mobilized, canceling their original flights on the American Airlines app and booking new ones for that afternoon.
Once inside the terminal, which Bendheim described as “eerily empty,” they placed their names on a standby list for an earlier flight to Dallas, their connecting airport.
Two spots opened up. Bendheim surmised that the owners of those seats were probably still in line.
Austin security line
#austin #securityline #airport (also I’m a an author plz check out my book When You’re Brave Enough bc I am not making this flight)
TSA officers call in sick
Tales of people missing their flights while inside the airport are becoming more common, especially as the partial shutdown from Feb. 14 drags on. Social media is awash with videos of packed security lanes and despairing reports from the front lines.
“Get to the airport about 3-4 hours early … mind you I’m in the pre check line … and yes I did miss my flight,” a Threads user named Brittani Nicole recently posted from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
The travel industry and government officials say the situation could get worse. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security reported the highest nationwide work callout of the partial shutdown, with 10.22 percent of officers not showing up for their shifts. The number slightly decreased, to 10.16 percent, on Wednesday.
Several of the country’s busiest airports are experiencing some of the worst absences, the agency noted. For March 18, the list included New York’s John F. Kennedy International (25 percent), Philadelphia International (33 percent) and Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta and Houston Bush (both 38 percent). Not surprisingly, these airports are also logging some of the longest wait times during peak periods: San Juan’s international airport in Puerto Rico — 120 minutes for standard lanes, 54 minutes for PreCheck; Atlanta — 49 minutes for standard and 22 minutes for PreCheck; and Houston — 57 minutes for both lanes.
On a normal travel day, TSA said the average wait time should be no more than 10 minutes for the Trusted Traveler program PreCheck and 30 minutes or less for the regular screening lanes.
Check wait times through the airports, not TSA
Until the government passes funding for DHS, passengers with upcoming flights should take proactive measures.
Start by checking the live wait times at your outbound airport. Begin the vigil hours before your plane is scheduled to take off. Count back from the boarding time, not the departure time.
TSA posts this information on multiple platforms, in person and virtually, but travel experts warn that the information might not be current. The Harts’ “18-minute” wait in Miami came courtesy of the agency.
the Miami TSA line was never ending this morning, took us about 1 1/2 hours and we talked to so many people that were missing their connecting flight
We were SO lucky to make our connection!! #tsa #tsaprecheck #airportsecurity #miamiairport
“Do not trust the TSA wait times right now, because the apps and websites are not being updated regularly,” said Clint Henderson, a managing editor at the online travel website the Points Guy.
Instead, check the real-time data on the airport’s website or app. On late Thursday afternoon, Atlanta’s wait times ranged from 10 to 21 minutes; one checkpoint was closed. At JFK, two out of five terminals registered waits of more than 30 minutes in the general lanes. The queue at the Terminal 4 TSA PreCheck lane was 17 minutes.
This week, CNN launched a wait-time tracker at 16 major airports, including Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver. Some airlines might also message passengers alerting them to lengthy security lines, reminding them to arrive at least two hours in advance for domestic trips and three hours for international flights.
However, do not wholly depend on the airlines, a lesson Bendheim learned on her last vacation.
“In the past, I’ve gotten an email from the carrier that says, ‘Hey, lines are really long, come early,’” Bendheim said. “I didn’t get one of those emails, so I just assumed it was all normal.”
She and her partner spent 100 minutes in the security line.
Look for quieter checkpoints and try Clear+
Short of arriving at the airport a half-day early, travelers can make small adjustments to their predeparture routines that can improve the odds of making their flight.
If the security checkpoint closest to your gate is slammed, consider an alternate outpost that may have shorter wait times. Although you may have a longer walk, at least you’ll be on the correct side of security. Just make sure you can access your gate from that checkpoint.
At Miami International, Henderson recently tried to enter at several checkpoints. He was denied entry at two of them, because his gate was not connected to the security areas, but two others were available to him. One had a 20-minute wait; the other had none.
“So I went to the one with a zero-minute wait,” he said.
Although more than 22 million people are enrolled in TSA PreCheck, the expedited lanes are typically faster than the standard ones. For an even speedier experience, register in advance for TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, available through five participating airlines and, TSA said, will be at 65 airports by spring.
“The Touchless ID line is to normal TSA PreCheck as standard TSA PreCheck is to general security,” said Scott Keyes, an airfare expert and founder of Going, a travel technology company that specializes in bargain fares.
Because of the strain on TSA officers, some PreCheck areas might not be open, funneling more trusted travelers into fewer lanes. If you are a member of Clear+, the biometric security program, you can jump to the front of the queue and bypass the government’s ID-check step. Non-members can enroll at the airport, paying $209 for a year — or less if their airline loyalty program or credit card has a partnership with Clear+.
Clear+, which operates in 60 airports, is offering a free two-month trial (remember to cancel or you will be automatically charged after the trial expires) as well as a day pass through Clear Mobile, available at four U.S. airports (prices vary). The company also relaunched its app this month with a “Know When to Leave” tool.
“Unfortunately, it is annoying to feel like you have to pay for something that should be a commodity,” said Sally French, lead travel writer at NerdWallet, an online travel resource, “but this is one case where if you don’t want to gamble, I would say get Clear.”
You’re not going make it. Now what?
The dust bunnies in the departures hall are moving faster than the security line. The situation appears hopeless. Blink away those tears and get busy.
First, confirm that your flight is on time. (You downloaded the airline’s app beforehand, right?) It’s okay to secretly wish for a delay. Probably half the people in line are sharing the same thought.
Even if the minutes are dwindling, you can still make it, as long as you arrive at the gate at least 15 minutes before takeoff for domestic flights and 30 to 45 minutes before an international flight.
If you are feeling brave, you could politely ask the other passengers if you could jump ahead.
Elaine Swann, an etiquette expert, said you are not breaking any decorum rules by inquiring, but she said to ask each person for permission and wait for a reply before passing them.
“Keep moving up the line as far as you can,” Swann said, “and if you get a person who says no, then that is where your forward momentum stops.”
Unfortunately, as the Harts discovered in Miami, the majority of the people in line might be in the same pickle and are not in a position to budge.
“Literally every single person was in the exact same situation,” Taryn said. “Everyone in the line was missing their flight.”
While you’re standing in line, anxiously twirling your wheelie luggage and gnawing on your neck pillow, research flights for later in the day. If the itinerary works and you have a refundable ticket, cancel and rebook your flight. You can also contact the airline for help by phone, through social media message, on the app or all three.
“Rebooking yourself prior to your original takeoff time is the only way to guarantee that you won’t wind up empty-handed,” Keyes said. “If the flight is exorbitantly more expensive, my next move is to call the airline and see if an understanding agent will do me a solid.”
If the airline’s U.S. customer service line is backed up, Henderson recommends calling one of its overseas offices, which may pick up faster. If you Google the number, he reminds travelers to confirm that the digits are legitimate and not part of a phishing scam.
Some airlines have a “flat-tire rule,” a golden ticket that allows an agent to rebook a passenger for free because of “unforeseen circumstances.” You can invoke the rule, although there is no guarantee your reason — “the TSA line was unbelievably long” — will qualify.
“This is totally up to an agent’s discretion,” Keyes said, “so ask as nicely as you can and don’t be shocked if the answer is no.”
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