US airport chaos: Travelers are waiting for hours in security lines as unpaid TSA agents stop showing up for work

• The partial government shutdown has caused a shortage of TSA agents.
• TSA agents are not showing up to work as they face their first pay period without a full paycheck.
• As a result, waits at security lines in some airports are hours long.

If you're flying through US airports this week, get ready to wait in line.

Thousands of travelers in the US are getting stuck in security lines that are taking up to three hours, as the ongoing partial government shutdown, the result of a funding dispute between opposing sides of Congress, causes staff shortages at the Transportation Security Administration.

"SPRING BREAK UNDER SIEGE," the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, wrote in an X post on Sunday.

"The Democrats' DHS shutdown has led to HOURS long security lines at airports across the country, leading Americans to miss their spring break flights," the tweet continued.

The call-outs are compounding an already busy travel period.

US airports typically see heavier crowds in March as spring break begins, with Sunday — already the busiest travel day of the week — seeing nearly 2.8 million travelers pass through TSA checkpoints. It was the agency's busiest day since January 4.

Airports are telling travelers to arrive extra early

The long waits are affecting several major airports across the US.

In an X post early on Monday morning, New Orleans airport told passengers they should arrive at least three hours before their flight, saying delays of up to two hours are expected in security lines.

Disruption is likely to persist for the rest of the week, the airport added.

On Sunday, Houston Hobby Airport, which handles around 14 million passengers annually, told travelers to arrive between four and five hours early and to expect to wait as long as 180 minutes to get through security.

"As a result of the partial federal government shutdown, passengers at William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) should arrive at least 4 to 5 hours before their flight to allow extra time for TSA screening," Houston Airports said in a press release.

"At times, TSA wait times at HOU may extend beyond 180 minutes."

One passenger caught in a long line was 16-year-old Michael Helfenstein III, who arrived at Houston Hobby at 3:37 p.m. Sunday for an 8:45 p.m. Southwest flight to Fort Lauderdale, his father, Michael Helfenstein II, said.

He cleared security at 5:47 p.m. — a wait of 2 hours and 10 minutes, his father said.

"The line was extremely long, but it did move, just very slowly," Michael Helfenstein II told Business Insider, adding that passengers were given cookies and water while they waited.

Some stalled travelers shared photos of the winding lines and crowds on social media. A video shared on X by Aubry Killion, an anchor at WDSU, the primary NBC affiliate in New Orleans, showed a line of passengers stretching all the way out into the parking garage.

A photo shared to Reddit showed a massive crowd at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, where wait times reached an hour on Sunday. The airport encouraged travelers to arrive early for their flights.

"The delays are the result of residual impacts from two ground stops issued on Friday, which created a temporary backlog in passenger volumes, combined with current TSA staffing constraints," a Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport spokesperson told Business Insider on Sunday.

The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Louisiana also told travelers to arrive early.

Security checkpoints at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina were about a 50-minute wait on Sunday.

Passengers at Houston Hobby had been warned that TSA PreCheck may not be available due to staffing shortages, though the airport posted on Monday morning that PreCheck was open.

The Department of Homeland Security last month said it was suspending TSA Precheck and Global Entry due to the government shutdown. It later backtracked on PreCheck, leaving it up to individual airports.

Still, the staffing shortages appear uneven. While Houston Hobby saw three-hour lines on Sunday, the city's larger airport, George Bush Intercontinental, did not.

As of Monday morning, security wait times at Intercontinental ranged from 10 to 40 minutes, depending on the terminal; at Hobby, it was still three hours. Atlanta's longest wait was about 40 minutes.

Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, Boston, and New York airports were similarly more under control Monday morning, reporting waits of 30 minutes or less. But those times could rise as call-outs increase and spring break travelers arrive en masse.

TSA agent pay is in the spotlight

Lauren Bis, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, said TSA agents "received only partial paychecks earlier this month and now face their first full missed paycheck, leading to financial hardship, absences, and crippling staffing shortages."

TSA agents are federal workers under DHS, which means they are directly affected by the partial shutdown that began in January. During the earlier 43-day government shutdown last year, TSA agents went weeks without pay. A shortage of air traffic controllers at airports in 2025 played a significant role in forcing the government to reach an agreement.

The US Congress failed to reach an agreement to fund DHS in February, in part because Democrats demanded changes to how the department enforces immigration law.