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Catch up with the latest on America's airport woes
A combination of Transportation Security Administration employee callouts due to the government shutdown and ongoing weather-related issues is snarling air travel across the US this week.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Pack your patience: Wait times at TSA security lines have reached nearly two hours at some airports over the weekend and so far this week. The general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport advised travelers to arrive at the airport three hours before their flights.
- Track airport wait times: CNN is tracking TSA security wait times at 15 major airports across the US. Check out our story here.
- Houston sees high callout rates: TSA worker callouts were over 50% at Houston airports Sunday and Monday, while Houston’s Hobby Airport saw the highest single-day callout rate – 55% – on Saturday, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
- Weather also an issue: As of 7 p.m. ET Tuesday, nearly 7,500 US flights have been delayed today and more than 2,000 have been canceled, according to FlightAware. This is largely due to the ongoing impact of bad weather.
What are your options if you miss a flight due to long TSA lines
As a partial government shutdown has led to Transportation Security Administration employees missing their first full paycheck, wait times at security checkpoint lines continue to fluctuate at airports across the country.
With that comes the possibility of missing your flight if you get stuck in a long TSA line. So, what are your options if you do?
First, it’s important to know you’re entitled to ticket refunds only for a cancelled flight, a schedule change or a significant delay on a flight, or on a fully refundable ticket that isn’t used, according to the US Department of Transportation. This doesn’t include potential delays from long TSA lines.
Some airlines allow you to cancel before the departure time in exchange for airline credits depending on the type of ticket you have. Check with your airline to see what their specific policy is on your type of ticket.
Southwest Airlines is offering “re-booking flexibility at airports where issues have been particularly noticeable,” spokesman Lynn Lunsford told CNN, but said most of the delays they’ve seen have been temporary. Delta Airlines acknowledged the longer TSA wait times in a news release about recent weather impacts, and gave travelers some flexibility in adjusting flights.
CNN has reached out to several other airlines to see if they’ve adjusted their policies given longer TSA wait times.
Travel insurance can potentially help, but many policies apply to “unforeseen events,” CNN previously reported. Check your insurance policy for specific details of what they cover.
Ultimately, many airports are encouraging passengers to arrive at least two hours early to avoid missing flights. Check out CNN’s tracking tool for the 15 major airports across the US to see wait times.
Around 36% of TSA employees at Atlanta airport called out, general manager says
About 36% of Transportation Security Administration employees at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport have called out, Ricky Smith, the airport’s general manager, said Tuesday.
That has led to long lines at the airport, causing frustration among flyers.
Still, Smith said he was grateful to those employees who did show up to work.
“We’re very happy to have those that continue to come to work every day,” Smith told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
The airport and others are supporting those TSA workers who are showing up despite not getting paid, he said.
“What we’re trying to do as an airport is ease some of that anxiety,” Smith said, adding employees are receiving food vouchers and free parking.
He encouraged travelers to show up at the airport three hours ahead of their scheduled flight and to check with their airline ahead of time.
“We’re doing everything we can to try to make a bad experience the best experience possible for our traveling public,” Smith said.
How to track wait times at major US airports amid TSA staffing issues
Airports across the US are facing long lines at security checkpoints today as Transportation Security Administration employees face their first week without pay during a partial government shutdown that began last month.
Wait times at TSA checkpoints vary widely across airports as the agency’s staffing is tight. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the US, has seen wait times anywhere from 111 minutes to 20 minutes depending on the time of day.
CNN is tracking TSA security wait times at 15 major airports across the United States, including those in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver. Look below to see wait times, or check out the story here.
Houston airports see more than 50% TSA call out rate, DHS says
Airports in Houston saw a more than 50% call out rate among Transportation Security Administration employees on Sunday and Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport saw the highest single-day call out rate – 55% – on Saturday, DHS said.
While the department did not share specific details about call outs at the city’s other airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, wait times there on Monday occasionally stretched up to nearly two hours long.
Meanwhile, more than 30% of TSA employees at the New Orleans and Atlanta airports called out on Sunday and Monday, DHS said.
The staffing shortages are leading to long wait times, frustrating passengers as the spring break season ramps up.
White House details its offer to reopen Homeland Security Department
The White House made a fresh push today to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, detailing several elements of its offer to end a weekslong partial government shutdown.
In a letter to top Senate Republican appropriators, White House officials wrote that their proposed funding deal would include provisions expanding the use of body cameras by immigration agents and limiting the government’s ability to conduct enforcement operations at “sensitive” locations like hospitals and schools.
The proposal would also boost oversight of federal detention facilities and require that most immigration agents clearly identify themselves during enforcement actions. A fifth provision would make it illegal to “knowingly” detain a US citizen unless that person violates a state or federal law.
The offer did not address agents’ use of masks, a sticking point for Democrats. In a subsequent call with reporters, a senior White House official also suggested the White House would oppose changes to its reliance on administrative warrants, calling it a “longstanding practice.”
Democrats have so far rejected the administration’s funding offers as inadequate, arguing that there needs to be broader departmental reforms following the killing of two US citizens by immigration agents in Minnesota earlier this year.
The impasse has shuttered the Department of Homeland Security for a month so far, affecting agencies like the TSA, Coast Guard and FEMA.
“The parties are moving far apart,” the senior official said, adding that talks are not advanced enough yet for President Donald Trump to negotiate directly with top Democratic lawmakers.
TSA officer says staff are sleeping at airports, urges Congress to act
Angela Grana, a TSA officer in Colorado, said the situation for the agency’s employees is “just complete chaos” after they missed their most recent paycheck amid the partial government shutdown that lapsed funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“Security runs on our labor, and when we’re thinking about other things and not focusing on our job, that would be a security concern for anybody,” Grana, who was speaking in a personal capacity, said in an interview on CNN News Central this afternoon.
Grana, the regional VP of AFGE Local 1127, a TSA workers union, said TSA employees calling out of work during the shutdown are often doing so because they can’t afford to buy gas when they’re not getting paid. Others, she noted, are sleeping at the airport to avoid driving back and forth.
“Instead of going to the military, this is another way to serve your country. And now you’re not being served in return. You’re kind of, like, being forgotten,” she said, adding that the uncertainty is forcing some employees in her union to consider quitting.
Asked for her message to members of Congress who have not come to an agreement that would fund the TSA, Grana emphasized the apolitical nature of the agency and the impact the shutdown has had on career federal employees.
“We’re not red, we’re not blue, we don’t have two different lines for two different passengers,” she said. “We do our job. We want the lawmakers to do their job.”
Wait time at Atlanta airport's main security checkpoint down to 20 minutes
The wait time at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s main security checkpoint was down to 20 minutes around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the airport.
Travelers have seen fluctuating wait times at the country’s busiest airport since this morning as air travel around the US continues to be plagued by delays due to staffing shortages, rough weather and a partial government shutdown.
Around 36% of TSA employees at the airport called out Tuesday, Ricky Smith, the airport’s general manager, told CNN.
Despite the current short wait time, Smith encouraged travelers to show up three hours before their flight and to check their flight status ahead of time.
Schumer says White House won't budge on ICE agents masking and judicial warrants
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the White House is refusing to budge on key Democratic concerns about ICE, after Democrats sent over their latest offer last night, leaving the DHS shutdown at a standstill.
Schumer said the main sticking points are Democrats’ demands for judicial warrants and for ICE agents to remove their masks. “We did send those over to the White House last night, but, and you know, we’re trying to move a little bit, but they’ve got to get serious. They’re not getting serious the key issues of warrants when you bust in someone’s house, the key issue of identity of police and no masks, they haven’t budged on those. They got to get serious,” he said.
Pressed by CNN on why the principals haven’t sat down in a room together to try and sort this out, Schumer replied, “We’ve been talking to each other. The two sides have been talking to each other day in, day out. And as I said, one of the key issues that we have been having a discussion about are the warrants and the masking. The issue is not the means of communication … The substance of the reality that they won’t budge yet on those two issues. We’re hoping they will.”
Schumer also blamed Republicans for growing TSA lines at airports across the country, noting that Democrats have proposed bills to reopen key agencies within the department, like TSA, while Republicans have argued that funding cannot be handled in a piecemeal approach.
Why debate over immigration enforcement is contributing to long lines at the airport
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, lacks funding for the remainder of fiscal year 2026, with Democrats demanding changes to the agency’s immigration enforcement operations after federal agents fatally shot two US citizens in Minneapolis in January.
The shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good during the protests in Minneapolis sparked widespread public outcry and prompted Senate Democrats to demand reforms in exchange for their support of a package to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats have said they want to restrict roving patrols, tighten parameters around warrants for searches and arrests, toughen use-of-force policies, and require ICE agents to wear body cameras and remove masks.
Republicans have resisted nearly all of those changes, and some have pushed for concessions from Democrats, like cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities.
One source familiar with the talks between the two parties warned an offer made by Democrats to the White House last night did not move the debate in any significant way and that negotiators are still relatively locked into their initial positions.
Funding TSA alone also doesn’t appear to be a viable option. Democrats have pushed to fund key parts of DHS – including TSA – as talks over ICE continue, but Republicans have argued that lawmakers should not take a piecemeal approach and should fund the entire agency.
“Right now, we could be paying TSA agents, funding FEMA before the next disaster hits, protecting our cyber defenses, and making sure the Coast Guard gets paid. But Republicans said no,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said. “Democrats have tried—six separate times—to pass simple bills to keep these critical parts of DHS running while negotiations continue. Six times Republicans came to the floor and blocked them.”
CNN’s Tami Luhby, Lauren Fox, Lauren Mascarenhas and Kit Maher contributed to this reporting.
Why it’s so hard to tell where a long TSA line will show up next
Long waits at airport security checkpoints can be caused by a variety of personnel factors and can change suddenly, making it hard for travelers to predict.
“When we flew here, it wasn’t like this at all. So this is just crazy,” Kennedy Taylor told CNN as she waited in line yesterday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Transportation Security Administration screeners have been working without pay as the Department of Homeland Security remains unfunded due to a stalemate in Congress over immigration enforcement.
Some TSA officers have quit and others are calling out to take unscheduled time off. Government employees are not allowed to strike, so the actions are not organized, union leaders say, but rather reflect personal situations.
“Officers are not just not showing up, they have reasons for not showing up. Whether it is ‘I can’t put gas in my car, I have to take care of my children,’” Aaron Barker, an American Federation of Government Employees union leader in Atlanta, said Monday.
And just because an airport has long lines on one day does not mean it will still be bad a few days later.
A little more than a week ago Houston Hobby airport saw TSA lines reach nearly three hours long, but this week they’ve been shorter, at times clocking in at less than 10 minutes.
The flow of passengers through airport checkpoints also varies throughout the day with airports reporting busy checkpoints before 9 a.m. then again in the late afternoon.
The specific checkpoint a traveler uses can also impact their wait time.
Atlanta saw peak lines of nearly two hours Tuesday at the main checkpoint. As the day continued, more domestic passengers went to the usually quick international checkpoint on the other side of the airport. The line there quickly swelled to more than an hour while the domestic wait times dwindled to just a few minutes before rapidly growing again.
CNN’s Alexandra Skores, Ryan Young, Jason Morris and Chris Youd contributed to this report.
Using a device while waiting in line? Here's how to conserve precious battery life
With some airport wait times reaching two hours or longer, passengers are more reliant on their phones and tablets in the slow-moving lines. Here are some tips to conserve power on those devices:
• Dim the screen and use Wi-Fi, which uses less power than a cellular network.
• Turn off unused background apps, including those that use location services. Also turn off Bluetooth if possible.
• Turn on low power mode, also called battery saver or power saving mode. It prevents apps from constantly pulling information from the internet.
• Switch to a dark theme and enable dark mode.
• Let the screen turn off sooner.
• Use a portable power bank. They’re allowed in carry-ons (not checked luggage) – just don’t carry spare lithium batteries.
CNN’s Lisa Eadicicco contributed to this reporting.
Democratic senator calls for immediate TSA funding amid travel delays
Amid massive air travel wait times, some lawmakers are pushing for solutions that would fund key DHS agencies as they work to resolve disputes over immigration enforcement tactics that led to the partial government shutdown, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia said today.
“I think there’s a pretty clear path forward, and that is that we should immediately fund TSA, Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and these other crucial agencies within the Department of Homeland Security,” Ossoff said on The Mark Arum Show on Atlanta-based WSB Radio.
The partial shutdown began in mid-February, after DHS funding lapsed. Democratic lawmakers have demanded major changes to how Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates, citing aggressive tactics.
“Since the disagreement, the dispute is really limited to the tactics that have been used by ICE across the country,” Ossoff said Tuesday. “There’s no reason that we shouldn’t be able to fund the rest of those agencies, including TSA.”
The solution would be a “sensible compromise,” even as the White House and its allies have blocked such proposals from Democratic lawmakers, he said.
Ossoff’s office told CNN that six bills by Senate Democrats aimed at funding key DHS agencies have been blocked in the past couple of weeks, while negotiations continue on ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
“I will continue working to try to advance those measures, and I think we just need an outbreak of common sense in the Senate,” Ossoff said.
At least 366 TSA agents have quit during government shutdown, DHS says
At least 366 Transportation Security Administration agents have left their jobs amid the ongoing partial shutdown, the Department of Homeland Security announced today.
Funding for DHS lapsed in mid-February during a political standoff between Republicans and Democrats over federal immigration enforcement. As the shutdown stretches into its fourth week, affected workers are missing paychecks just as the busy spring break travel season ramps up.
“Democrats are making the heroic men and women of TSA work without pay for the THIRD time in six months — forcing 366 agents to leave the force,” DHS announced in a post on X .
According to the department, more than 300 workers leaving the force “significantly decreases TSA’s ability to meet passenger demand and leaves critical gaps in staffing, as each new recruit requires 4-6 MONTHS of training.”
CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this reporting.
Wait times fluctuate at Atlanta airport
Travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport have seen fluctuating wait times Tuesday as air travel around the US continues to be plagued by delays due to staffing shortages, rough weather and a partial government shutdown.
The estimated wait time at Hartsfield-Jackson’s main check point around 9 a.m. Tuesday was at least 100 minutes, and tensions started to rise when the line for TSA security stretched into the airport food court and even near the baggage claim area.
Hours later, the line trickled down to almost nothing, before picking back up during the lunch rush hours. Around noon, the TSA checkpoint at the airport instantly jumped from an estimated wait of 38 minutes to 111 minutes, before dropping down to 77 minutes.
Several frustrated passengers told CNN on Tuesday they arrived many hours early at Hartsfield-Jackson, one of the busiest airports in the world, to catch their flights because the situation is so in flux and unclear.
The airport has encouraged travelers to arrive at least three hours ahead of their flights to allow extra time for security screening as they deal with staffing constraints amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.
“This is fun stuff,” Xena Rutherford from Colorado told CNN as she joined the long time at TSA’s main checkpoint in Atlanta. She and her husband expect they’ll have enough time to make their 3:47 p.m. flight this afternoon, she said, but are frustrated they had to arrive so early.
Wait times at airports around the nation have varied, with some boasting near-empty security lines, while others urge patience as limited TSA staff work to keep up with crowds.
Fetterman bashes Democrats over DHS shutdown
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman spoke out against the Department of Homeland Security shutdown as a lone voice of dissent among Democrats as they refuse to budge on ICE reforms.
“It’s kind of like a hard rule, don’t shut our government down. I’ve been in that way last time, and that’s the same here now,” he told CNN.
“If you are withholding a vote to reopen DHS, then I won’t be – I refuse to ever be a Democrat to be – part of that equation,” he said, adding it wasn’t about “blame.”
“It’s not a blame thing for me. It’s just more about what I happen to believe is important in these circumstances now, not shut it down. And now things get more and more kinds of dangerous,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Democrats have made it clear they would be willing to fund TSA separately but insisted Democrats “are not willing to fund ICE until there are significant changes made.”
“ICE being able to wear masks, to be able to pull people out of their cars and throw them to the ground, to be able to gas little babies and to be able to shoot people in broad daylight with no accountability. That is not helping reduce lines at the airport,” Warren said.
More than a thousand US flights canceled so far today
More than 1,000 US flights have been canceled as of 12 p.m. ET today, according to FlightAware, as severe weather continues to impact air travel across the country.
Additionally, total delays within, into or out of the United States now exceed 3,800.
Many of the impacts are lingering effects from yesterday’s major storm, where at least 2,000 flights were canceled and more than 9,500 flights were delayed, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
Senate GOP leader on any movement in talks with Democrats on DHS: “Didn’t change much”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that while Democrats made a late-night offer in negotiations to fund the Department of Homeland Security and lift the partial government shutdown, “it didn’t change much.”
Democrats have traded proposals with the White House and congressional Republicans with each side dug in on different demands, including red lines on federal immigration enforcement.
The month-long shutdown of the department, which oversees the Transportation Security Administration, has added to travel woes throughout the country.
Later Tuesday, Thune criticized Democrats for not embracing “significant gives on the part of the White House,” including proposed ICE policy changes designed to unlock funding talks.
“I was going over last night some of the gives that the White House had made that went above and beyond, you know, any initial offers that they put out there,” he said. “And there’s a lot of stuff in there. I mean, even with respect to body cameras, there was $20 million in the original bill, there’s $100 million in the proposal from the White House to include audits by the inspector general, you know, and reviews for noncompliance.”
This post has been updated with additional reporting.
Passengers packed their patience while waiting more than 2 hours in airport lines
Airports across the country are seeing long lines amid staffing issues, weather delays and spring break travel this week, leaving many travelers to pack their patience.
Charles James is one of those passengers who waited more than two hours this morning at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
“The airport was not prepared for it, you could tell. No one really directing passengers where to join the lines or what line was what. But for the most part people kept their cool,” James told CNN.
This is only the latest travel chaos James has recently experienced. In the past few days, he had five flights cancelled and experienced multiple delays from a few different airports.
Community rallies to give shelf-stable food to 600 TSA workers in Maryland
Community members and local officials in Maryland are coming together to make sure TSA employees at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport have food “throughout” the ongoing partial government shutdown.
The Anne Arundel County Food Bank has worked with airport officials, the county office of emergency management and numerous volunteers to assemble and pack boxes of shelf-stable food for the airport’s 600 TSA employees working without pay, the food bank said in a statement.
“We are committed to continuing to box food and get it to BWI TSA workers (while also maintaining all of our other food distribution operations) throughout the shutdown,” the food bank said.
Plans are in place to also provide stable produce items like potatoes, onions, and apples to workers next week, the county added.
CNN’s Amanda Jackson contributed to this reporting.
