TSA Officers Work Without Pay as Long Airport Lines Spread Nationwide

Andrew Leonard arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport at 4:45 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight to Seattle. Nearly two hours later, he made it to his gate just in time for boarding. "I fly out of this terminal all the time and this is insane," said the 34-year-old performing arts teacher. His experience is now routine at airports across the country.

DHS funding lapsed on February 14, causing the department, which houses the TSA, to shut down for more than five weeks and counting. Because TSA officers are considered essential workers, they are expected to continue working during the shutdown, even though they are not currently receiving their pay, leading to high rates of staffers calling out at some airports, as some officers have had to pick up second jobs to pay their bills.

Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told a House committee that airports are experiencing "the highest wait times in TSA history, with some wait times greater than four and a half hours." As of March 24, TSA had lost around 460 officers and daily callout rates at airport checkpoints had increased from 4% before the shutdown to 11% nationwide, with multiple airports experiencing greater than 40% and 50% callout rates. The agency is simultaneously grappling with the spring break travel surge and approximately 5% higher travel volume than last year, with fewer officers working at checkpoints, increasing wait times to over four and a half hours at certain airports and raising the risk of missed flights.

The numbers are stark at specific hubs. At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 37.4% of TSA workers have called out on average. Houston's William P. Hobby Airport has seen 40.3% of workers calling out, similar to George Bush Intercontinental, which has seen 36.1% calling out. Some airports have temporarily suspended online wait time reporting. "Due to the federal funding lapse, security wait times may be significantly longer than normal," reads a message on the JFK website. "Wait times are subject to rapid change based on passenger volumes and TSA staffing." LaGuardia Airport also was not displaying wait times, nor were Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta and Newark Liberty International Airport.

In Philadelphia, passengers at airports across the country have experienced longer wait times at security checkpoints, and the airport announced the temporary closure of checkpoints in three terminals due to staffing shortages, recommending travelers arrive 2.5 hours before domestic flights and 3.5 hours before international departures.

Roughly 61,000 TSA employees are working without pay during the partial government shutdown, which began February 14. The workers missed their first full paycheck in mid-March, after only receiving a partial paycheck at the end of February. TSA officers are set to miss their second full paycheck this weekend if Congress doesn't act.

The financial toll on individual officers is severe. Some airports have asked the public to donate grocery store and gas gift cards in amounts of $10 or $20 to support officers. Officers are reportedly sleeping in their cars at airports to save gas money, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second and third jobs to make ends meet. Taylor Desert, a TSA agent at Indianapolis International Airport, stopped at a food bank for meat, eggs, vegetables and dairy products before starting her shift on Monday. "I never thought I would be in a position where, working for the federal government, I would need to go to a food bank to supplement my groceries," she said.

"Stop asking me about the long lines. Ask me if somebody's gonna eat today," said Hydrick Thomas, president of the national American Federation of Government Employees union council representing TSA employees.

The Trump administration on Monday deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to several U.S. airports. White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration would send ICE agents to airports to help ease security lines amid the shutdown. Democrats objected, saying ICE agents would not be able to perform the same tasks as TSA officers because they lack the necessary training. "Untrained ICE agents lurking at our airports is asking for trouble," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X. "And it will make the chaos at our airports worse."

Democrats' demands that additional guardrails be put in place for federal immigration agents are at the center of the congressional standoff behind the DHS shutdown. Since February 14, tens of thousands of workers, including TSA screeners, have continued working without paychecks. Democrat Senator Dick Durbin said his party had attempted nine times to pass emergency funding for DHS entities including the TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard.

TSA employees have already worked 87 days without getting paid in fiscal year 2026, and by March 27, nearly $1 billion in payroll will have gone unpaid. The FIFA World Cup kicks off June 11, less than three months away. Even if TSA were to hire new officers upon conclusion of the shutdown, those officers would not be able to work on the checkpoint until well after the World Cup has concluded. The agency trains and certifies each new officer over four to six months, meaning the staffing gap created by this shutdown has consequences that will long outlast any congressional deal.