Wait times for security lines at major U.S. airports appeared to be decreasing Monday as the Transportation Security Administration began paying its beleaguered workforce, delivering a reprieve to travelers who had contended with hours-long lines and missed flights during a partial government shutdown that has stretched for weeks.
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where security lines had snaked outside a terminal and down escalators to the airport tram last week, reported wait times of between five and 10 minutes around noon Monday.
Wait times at John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York were mostly under 30 minutes, except one LaGuardia terminal that reported a wait time of over 90 minutes. A week ago, the TSA line for one terminal at JFK was about 45 minutes long.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which had briefly suspended reporting its wait times on its website and advised travelers to arrive four hours before their flights, removed its online warning and reported wait times of around five minutes Monday around noon.
The availability of TSA workers improved slightly Sunday, when the agency reported a callout rate of 10.6 percent, or 3,101 workers, down from the agency’s highest callout rate of 12.4 percent on Friday, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Homeland Security spokesperson Lauren Bis did not share callout rates for Monday but said TSA officers should start receiving paychecks that day after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to pay the agency’s employees during the partial shutdown. Officers have worked without pay since mid-February.
More than 500 TSA officers have left the agency since funding lapsed, and thousands have called out of work, Bis said.
Lydia Sidhom contributed to this report.
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