TSA Security Wait Times at Airports Are Exploding — Here’s How to Track Them
With TSA security wait times at some major airports surging during a stalemate over funding, many travelers are looking for a way to check them before they get to the airport.
What are ways to track TSA security wait times at major airports, especially in real time? Sites like Airline Airport list average wait times by airport. FlightAware tracks flight cancellations and delays by airport. "Download My TSA application to check and post airport delays reported by fellow travelers in real time, confirm what items can be brought through security, and review other tips for travelers from TSA," Homeland Security suggests.
But the best way to track wait times is often through individual airport websites. However, some major airports, such as Newark, have suspended wait-time tracking. Atlanta's airport suspended wait-time tracking, but urged all passengers to arrive at least four hours before their boarding time. LaGuardia, which was briefly closed after an Air Canada plane collided with a fire truck, was also no longer listing wait times but warned passengers to expect significant delays.
But other airports have real-time TSA wait times listed on their websites.
Airports in Denver, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Orlando, Los Angeles, Detroit, Phoenix, Houston, Miami & Charlotte Were Among Those Listing TSA Wait Times on Their Websites
(Photo by John Falchetto / AFP via Getty Images)
Airports that were reporting TSA wait times on March 23 include:
- Denver International Airport.
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
- Orlando International Airport.
- Los Angeles International Airport.
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
- Miami International Airport.
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
- Nashville International Airport.
- Salt Lake City International Airport.
- Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
- Philadelphia International Airport.
- St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
Some Airports Suspended Wait Times Tracking, But Reddit Users Provided Updates About Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta Wait Times
JFK Airport in New York was among those suspending wait-time tracking. "Due to the federal funding lapse, security wait times may be significantly longer than normal. Wait times are subject to rapid change based on passenger volumes and TSA staffing. For these reasons, wait time reporting has been temporarily suspended," the website says.
Travelers took to Reddit to offer updates. One Reddit thread was filled with updates about lengthy security wait times at O'Hare airport in Chicago. "I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning. The line was genuinely an endless loop from one side to the other side of the check-in area," a traveler at O'Hare wrote on March 22.
"I kept walking trying to find where it began but loop had no clear beginning or no one directly the hordes of people, and at a certain point I just chose somewhere to get in line and prayed no one yelled at me for cutting. It still took an hour."
But another person wrote, "I went through Terminal 1 at 7:30 this morning and it took 17 minutes."
Lines at LaGuardia were as long as three hours even before the crash, according to The New York Times. At JFK, the lines were between one and two hours on March 22, The Times reported.