Spring‑break airport snapshot

Spring-break airport trouble is not hitting every hub the same way: Orlando International is showing the sharpest strain, while Los Angeles International and John F. Kennedy International are posting much shorter security lines. (tsa.gov) (flightaware.com) (flylax.com) (jfkairport.com) At Orlando International, FlightAware’s airport status page said the airport was experiencing departure delays of 16 to 30 minutes, with average departure delays listed at 8 hours 50 minutes and increasing because of traffic volume. The same page showed arriving airborne flights averaging 39 minutes late and decreasing. (flightaware.com) The Transportation Security Administration said on March 5 that it expected passenger volumes during the March 6-24 spring-break peak to rise by more than 5% nationwide. Orlando’s delays show how that national surge can turn into a local bottleneck at one leisure-heavy airport. (tsa.gov) (flightaware.com) Los Angeles International was reporting far lighter checkpoint pressure on April 14, with the airport’s official wait-time page showing 0 minutes at the Tom Bradley International Terminal general checkpoint and 1 minute for Transportation Security Administration PreCheck at the time of the update. The page said the data was last updated at 11:20:37 p.m. on April 14, 2026. (flylax.com) John F. Kennedy International’s official departures page also showed short lines on April 15, with general security waits of 14 minutes at Terminal 1, 9 minutes at Terminal 4, 7 minutes at Terminal 5, 7 minutes at Terminal 7, and 15 minutes at Terminal 8. The airport said those wait times are calculated and updated in real time, and that overflows beyond the measured queue can still make the full wait longer. (jfkairport.com) JFK is also warning travelers that staffing can still change conditions quickly. Its terminal pages say Transportation Security Administration staffing shortages can cause rapidly changing wait times and that posted numbers may not fully reflect current conditions. (jfkairport.com 1) (jfkairport.com 2) The practical difference is that travelers are facing three distinct airport stories in the same travel season: delay-heavy operations in Orlando, manageable checkpoint waits in Los Angeles, and mostly single-digit to mid-teen waits at JFK. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey tells passengers to check live security, traffic, and parking data before leaving for the airport. (flightaware.com) (flylax.com) (jfkairport.com) (panynj.gov) The Transportation Security Administration is telling spring travelers to arrive prepared with compliant identification, including a REAL ID or another acceptable document, and to expect busy checkpoints during peak periods. This year’s snapshot suggests the longest lines and biggest delays depend less on the calendar than on which airport is absorbing the rush. (tsa.gov)