Long security lines at U.S. airports as DHS funding affects TSA staffing

Airline passengers in some of the United States’ largest airports are seeing long security lines just as spring break is kicking off.

For several weeks, the Transportation Security Administration has been dealing with continued absences amid the ongoing partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security. TSA agents have been working without pay since the start of the partial shutdown on Feb. 14. Congress has yet to agree to extend funding for several agencies.

Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, considered to be the world’s busiest airport, said on social media they are experiencing “extended wait times” at TSA security checkpoints. They asked travelers to plan for additional time at security and to arrive at the airport early for their flights.

The airport’s website was showing wait times of close to an hour at its main checkpoint.

At Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, travelers on Monday were told to arrive at least 3 hours before their flights due to the long lines.

“Wait times could be up to 2 hours,” the airport said in a statement on social media. “The delays could continue through the rest of the week.”

Leah Turney, who was traveling out of New Orleans, said she and her family missed their flights because of the long lines.

“We were waiting in TSA just to get to security for 4 hours,” she said.

Passengers at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport were told to arrive 4 to 5 hours before their departure times, with security line wait times that could stretch over 3 hours. Images and videos from Houston showing long lines also flooded social media on Sunday.

The airport’s website on Monday morning listed 3-hour wait times.

The battle to fund DHS continues in Washington, as Democrats continue to demand reforms before signing on to any legislation to extend the agency’s funding. A bipartisan agreement had been reached earlier in the year that would have funded DHS through September. But the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis in January then prompted Democrats to demand reforms to immigration enforcement, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying at the time, “we need to rein in ICE and end the violence.”

Last week, the House approved a measure to fund DHS through September in a 221 to 209 vote, but a similar bill failed to get the necessary 60 votes in the Senate, managing only 51.

Chris Sununu, president and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade group for U.S. airlines, in a statement urged Congress and the Trump administration to act.

“We are in spring break travel season and expecting record numbers of people to take to the skies. 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,” he said. “America’s transportation security workforce is too important to be used as political leverage.”

Jessica Andersen Alexie and her two children, 10 and 13, were among the travelers caught in the long lines at Hobby in Houston as they tried to return home to New Orleans. They had been in Houston for the World Baseball Classic.

Alexie said they arrived 3 hours early to find a long line and realized they would not make their flight. While in line, she checked rental cars to see if driving home might be an option but couldn’t find any available. She was able to rebook for a late-night flight and felt relieved to get through the CLEAR security line after about 3 1/2 hours.

When they finally sat down to eat, she decided to take another look at available flights, on the chance that others in line had to cancel and rearrange their plans, and found three seats on a flight that got her family home Sunday afternoon. When they landed at the New Orleans airport, the line extended out to the parking garage, she said.

“It was nuts,” she said. “It was crazy.”