One of the most visible government departments is showing cracks as the government shutdown drags on. I’m not gonna go so far as to call it a sh**show, but there are plenty of stories out there that might lead you to believe that is the case. At JFK airport in New York passengers reported hearing Kanye West and the Beastie Boys blaring over the speaker system.
JFK airport carousel blasting “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” at 10:30 PM is kinda alright with me.
— RL Barnes, Ph.D. (@DigitalHistory_) January 7, 2019
Miami International (12th busiest in the US) and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental (15th busiest) have both shuttered terminals due to a higher than average amount of TSA workers calling in sick or quitting.
Terminal B security checkpoint and ticketing lobby will remain closed through today. We will send out further updates as they are received. Again, please arrive early as rerouting may take time. #fly2houston https://t.co/1ufWu0a111
— Houston Bush Airport (@iah) January 15, 2019
One of the most shocking reports has come from Atlanta’s airport – the busiest airport in the country with an average of over 135,000 passengers boarding a day. This video that’s circulating looks more like a line to get on a roller coaster at Six Flags than trying to get on to an airplane.
So I’m at @ATLairport and this may be the longest security line I have ever seen. Even growing up here, and even for a Monday morning. One passenger told me he’d been waiting over an hour and still had about 30 minutes to go. pic.twitter.com/UL7EghujQI
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenezCNN) January 14, 2019
On a normal day the average wait time at U.S. security is about 15 minutes. But TSA data indicates that some airports far exceeded that average on Monday: The maximum wait times in the regular TSA checkpoint lines was 28 minutes in Miami, 29 minutes in Honolulu, 41 minutes at Dallas-Love, and a whopping 88 minutes in Atlanta. Yikes!
I love hanging out in the airplane lounges more than most, so I usually get to the airport 1.5 – 2 hours early. I don’t like stressing about checking my bag and that usually gives me a solid hour to eat breakfast or pound some wine on a later flight. However, until the shutdown resolved and our underappreciated airport workers are paid again there is some cause for concern with my normal routine.
There’s an app for that!
Download TSA’s MyTSA app from whatever app store you use. MyTSA provides you with 24/7 airport security information. With the app you can:
- Check security wait times reported by travelers
- Check airport or weather delays
- Report security checkpoint wait times to help other travelers
- Discover which airports support TSA PreCheck
- Check how historically busy an airport will be on your specific day and time of travel
- Request live assistance from TSA through the AskTSA direct message feature
Thank you very much for the useful information