The IAH website is currently reporting a three hour wait at the normal lines, as well as at TSA Pre-Check. (Courtesy IAH)
It’s not even the holidays yet and already airports seem to be giving travelers intense headaches and worry as the federal government shutdown affects the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) wait times.
As federal government employees, there has been a shortage of TSA workers as they are either furloughed or being forced to work for free. This had led to many of them not showing up to work, increasing the wait times to get through airport security.
“These are the lines for TSA which are snaking outside of Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Texas. Thousands of people waiting and many are missing flights,” one X user wrote. “Kudos to all the @TSA agents who are showing up to work without pay. You guys and gals are American heroes!”
Currently, the wait times look to be the worst at the two major Houston airports, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU).
The IAH website is currently reporting a three hour wait at the normal lines, as well as at TSA Pre-Check. IAH only has Terminal A and E open, having closed the other three over the weekend. The HOU website is showing about an hour wait for TSA.
Other major airports, including Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW); Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS); Dallas Love Field (DAL); and San Antonio International Airport (SAT) are seeing an increased amount of flight delays and cancellations due to the shutdown causing a delay in air traffic controllers.
“We work overtime to make sure the system is safe. And we will slow traffic down, you’ll see delays, we’ll have flights canceled to make sure the system is safe,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on CBS. “Again when they’re making decisions to feed their families, I’m not going to fire air traffic controllers.”
