US airport wait times longest in history after hundreds of unpaid officers leave

The Transportation Security Administration warned that US airport security was under severe strain as a weeks-long Department of Homeland Security funding shutdown drives staffing shortages, long wait times and mounting disruptions across the United States.“This has led to the highest wait times in TSA history, with some wait times greater than 4½ hours,” Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers on Wednesday, adding the agency has already lost more than 480 transportation security officers during the funding lapse.Airports that have been significantly hit include those in Atlanta, Houston and New York. Lines have snaked through terminals, baggage claims and even outside in some cases, going viral on social media where frustrated passengers griped about the waits and the potential of missed flights.Early Wednesday morning, videos posted to X showed long lines at LaGuardia Airport in New York City winding through the facility. Typically wait times are posted on LaGuardia’s website, but due to the rapidly-changing situation, updates have been suspended.People wait in long security lines at LaGuardia Airport, New York City. Photo: AFPLawmakers from both parties used a House Homeland Security Committee hearing to press McNeill on the operational impact of the shutdown and the agency’s response. Republicans said the funding lapse is weakening national security and straining frontline personnel, while Democrats challenged the administration’s reliance on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to support airport operations.