TSA Shortages Cause Airport Chaos
Hours-long security lines are hitting major airports including Houston and New Orleans due to TSA staff shortages from the partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown. Many TSA officers are working without regular pay, and airports are advising travelers to arrive more than three hours early to avoid missing flights.
The current partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security began in mid-February 2026 after lawmakers failed to agree on a funding bill. The key sticking point in the congressional negotiations is a dispute over federal immigration enforcement policies and tactics. This has left approximately 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers working without pay, with many expected to miss their first full paycheck around March 13th. The financial strain is leading to "higher-than-normal" and "increased" unscheduled absences at several airports, compounding the strain on security checkpoints. The impact on travelers is most severe at airports like Houston's William P. Hobby (HOU), where wait times have surged to as long as 3.5 hours, a significant increase from the average wait of under 10 minutes. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) have also experienced major delays, with lines at MSY reportedly stretching into the parking garage. This isn't an unprecedented situation; a 43-day shutdown in late 2025 led to a more than 25% increase in TSA officer resignations in the following months. That shutdown was estimated to have cost the travel industry around $6 billion due to flight delays and cancellations. The trusted traveler program Global Entry has been suspended nationwide due to the shutdown. While TSA PreCheck technically remains operational, intermittent lane closures have been reported at airports with significant staffing shortages. In the midst of the shutdown, a major leadership change has occurred at the DHS. On March 5, President Trump announced he was replacing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma as the nominee for the position. Noem will serve until March 31. The House of Representatives passed a bill, H.R. 7744, to fund the DHS, but the legislation has stalled in the Senate. Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have blocked the bill, demanding reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) practices before they will approve the funding. The Senate is expected to hold further votes on the matter.
