Spring break arrived this year with a complication that has nothing to do with the weather. Across the country, airport security lines are stretching past two hours at major hubs, checkpoints are closing for lack of staff, and the Transportation Security Administration officers still showing up are doing so without a paycheck.
The partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security began February 14. TSA’s roughly 50,000 front-line officers are classified as essential workers, which means they are required to keep screening passengers whether or not Congress has funded their salaries. More than 400 have now decided that arrangement is no longer acceptable and resigned. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the figure, noting that nearly half of those who quit had more than three years of experience, and a third had more than five.
What is happening at the airports
The strain is visible at checkpoints across the country. At Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, more than half of TSA staff called out on a recent Friday, producing wait times that exceeded two hours. Houston Hobby Airport reported a callout rate of 51.5% the same day. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International recorded nearly a third of its staff absent. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York saw a callout rate of 29.5%.
In New Orleans, Louis Armstrong International Airport advised passengers to arrive at least three hours before departure. In Philadelphia, airport officials shut down three security checkpoints entirely because there were not enough people to staff them.
The national callout rate reached 10.22% on a single Friday, the highest point recorded since the shutdown began, according to DHS.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that a second missed paycheck would push the situation further, describing current conditions as a preview of something significantly worse if Congress does not act. Some smaller airports, he said, could face temporary closure if absences continue to climb.
The human cost behind the numbers
The officers still working are navigating financial pressures that have become personal crises for many. Anthony Riley, a 58-year-old father of three with nearly two decades of service, described the possibility of eviction and homelessness after weeks without pay. The agency’s average starting salary sits around $34,500, with most officers earning between $46,000 and $55,000. At those income levels, a month without pay eliminates most financial cushion quickly.
The shutdown began when congressional Democrats declined to fund DHS, seeking reforms at Immigration and Customs Enforcement following alleged abuses and two fatal shootings of US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. Senate Democrats blocked Republican efforts to pass a full DHS funding bill, and a Democratic proposal to fund TSA workers alone without the rest of the department failed to reach the 60 votes needed to advance, falling 41 to 49 along party lines.
President Trump responded by threatening to deploy ICE agents to staff airport security lanes if an agreement was not reached, posting on Truth Social that he had instructed the agency to prepare for airport deployment. Billionaire Elon Musk also posted an offer to personally cover TSA salaries during the impasse, though US law generally bars government employees from accepting outside compensation for official work.
The airports that are not struggling
Twenty US airports operate under TSA’s Screening Partnership Program, which uses private contractors rather than federal employees at security checkpoints. Those airports, including San Francisco International and Kansas City International, are reporting normal operations and wait times under three minutes. Private contractors continue paying their employees regardless of the federal funding situation, though smaller companies have acknowledged covering payroll themselves while waiting for the government to process invoices once the shutdown ends.
All private screening operations remain under federal oversight and follow identical security protocols to TSA-staffed checkpoints. Transitioning an airport to private screening requires TSA approval and can take up to a year, making it an impractical short-term fix for airports currently in crisis.
What travelers should do now
Travel demand is not softening despite the disruption. The airline industry projected a record 171 million passengers for March and April combined, and experts say the appetite for travel remains strong regardless of conditions at checkpoints.
Travel experts advise checking airport websites for current wait time estimates before leaving for the airport, as TSA’s own app is not being regularly updated during the shutdown. Arriving earlier than usual is advisable even when listed wait times appear short, since conditions can shift within minutes. Enrolling in TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or the private CLEAR program can reduce time at the checkpoint, though expedited lanes are not always faster and are worth assessing on arrival. Travelers should also have airline apps installed and customer service numbers saved in case of missed connections or cancellations, and should know that US law entitles passengers to a full refund if an airline cancels a domestic flight.
The shutdown is now in its second month with no resolution in sight.
