How Early to Airport Because of Government Shutdown Affecting TSA

Many things can and will change by April 8. I would follow the airline and airport advice about when to arrive. If that is 3 hours early, then it's 3 hours early. A small investment in time to avoid the cost of missing an important flight.

You can check TSA waiting times in their app https://www.dhs.gov/check-wait-times

Note that the TSA app/website is not currently being managed/updated due to the shutdown.

I'm flying out of Minneapolis on Thursday. I'm not anticipating any issues, but typically local news will report on any unusual happenings at MSP. We are in spring break season, so I'm allowing extra time just because of that.

I flew out of SeaTac last week at got thru TSA in minutes.

Well, I learned something new when I went looking for TSA wait times at my local Spokane airport. There is a complimentary car wash for people who've used their parking facilities. Who knew? Not me, lol.

I've downloaded the app CL refers to and it says my local airport at this time of day on a Monday is 0-15 minutes wait. Of course, this does not compare to MSY or HOU but it would be worth downloading the app and taking a look daily to see how the times are running for morning flights.

Cross posting with Jules...I did see that message come up on the app but does that mean the data is historical and not current?

editing: And funnily enough right now on CNN there is a piece on about back ups at certain airports. The graphic I glanced up and saw only showed East Coast or South airports as apparently the West never exists on the national channels.

Thanks for that clarification julesm I didn't check the app before posting, apologies! My home airport is keeping the info updated on their website (PDX wait times are under 12 minutes for general boarding this morning). the OP may want to see if their airport is doing the same.

Arrive whatever time you are comfortable with. I’m usually at O’Hare at least 4 hours before my flight because I always allow extra time for traffic. The problem with that is, depending on the airline, the check-in desk may not be open that early.

Not a problem CL. I imagine the app will be helpful in the future. I did look at the app very briefly. Of the airports I tagged as being "favorites", they all said 0-15 minutes. So, just a guess, but I'd say its not being managed.

Good suggestion to check the local airport website. Checking MSP's which said wait times at both terminals were 5 minutes or less, which is consistent with the TSA app, for what its worth.

I now have TSA precheck, but before that, I used spotsaver available at some airports. I found it helpful and time saving.

Just an FYI, I find the TikTok app to be very useful for on-the-ground, real time reporting on the big delays. Over the weekend there were multiple videos from people waiting in the lines in Houston and New Orleans.

Honestly, if the TSA agents aren’t being paid by April 8, I would expect that probably getting to the airport anytime won’t help. It’s going to come to the point where they won’t come to work.

( I know the threat is they will fire them all fire them all, but they may have to go find another job because they have to have money to pay their bills. )

Personally, I would not rely on TikTok to tell me how long the lines are. Because you need to remember with TikTok, it’s not about good information. It’s about getting viewers so let’s say they’re two lines in the Atlanta airport and one of them is really long and one of them is really short. Oh, I want to do a TikTok video and get attention I’ll only show the really long line because people like that kind of terror.

I fly out from SEA to RNO on Friday at 6:00pm. I guess I'll get there at 6:00am. Or maybe at 5:00am, just to be safe.

I hope this is resolved before I fly to France next month.

-- Mike Beebe

So a local tv station is live at MSP, partly because its spring break season and partly due to TSA issues. They just reported 10-40 minutes wait for TSA. IMO, that is not a long time. Longer than normal, but really not so bad. I just went to the MSP website and it is saying a 10 minute wait. So I wouldn't trust the website. However, wait times do vary widely during the day from hour to hour.

The news just said waits in Houston were about 3 hours.

I travel right after Easter from San Francisco (SFO) so hopefully things are smoother by then.
But I have CLEAR (and TSA-precheck), and I think CLEAR is still working fine which puts you up the front of the TSA line (I hope!).

TSA agents at SFO are private contract employees not federal employees.

Yes SFO is great place to fly out of.... The TSA isn't there ;)

Oh they are very much there. They just aren’t quite as grumpy as other places because they get paid.

I know TSA is at SFO but how did I not know it was private/contract? Makes me feel better about it.

Just an FYI, I find the TikTok app to be very useful for on-the-ground, real time reporting on the big delays.

The same for me, except for for me, it's Reddit instead of TikTok. People are out there talking about what is going on in real time.

It seems each airport is a unique circumstance.

Check the individual airport's website to see what it says about TSA wait time.
Definitely no 'one size fits all' answer.

And until the shutdown ends, I suspect the wait times at airports will get worse, not better.

Doubt any one will disagree with that statement.

Thanks for the information about SFO TSA agents being private contract employees. We fly out of SFO next month also.

The evening news I watched tonight shared a recommendation from (I don't remember who/where) to arrive 5 (FIVE) hours early to clear TSA.

I went through TSA Precheck at Raleigh-Durham (RDU) airport this morning at about 8:40 a.m. and it took me less than five minutes. This is about the same amount of time that it usually takes me when I am flying out of RDU (which I do often). I didn't notice any huge lines for the regular TSA lines. I arrived at the airport about three hours prior to my flight. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.

My next flight is at 7:45 in the morning. There’s no way I’m arriving at an airport at 2:45 in the morning to go through security.

Most (all?) USA airports show the current TSA wait times online. Of course they will fluctuate but at least you can make an informed decision as for when to get there.

Unfortunately a lot of airports are showing wait times based on TSA reporting and that's not working so I am not sure the airport website will always be reliable (I am looking at you Orlando International LOL!)

Just flew Monday out of DCA and it was completely normal and speedy in the precheck line. This is a very location dependent problem, one I expect to rotate among airports for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to all who have responded. This does seem to be airport-dependent. What I am seeing is that at some airports, few problems, and at others, huge problems. I am not sure whether the problems at a particular airport are random or recurrent because of staffing.

Midday local news reports that again MSP TSA lines are short. They are expecting a lot of travelers and possibly more issues at the end of March (peak spring break) I definitely would not trust TSA app wait times, and based on a little poking around yesterday, I wouldn't trust the airport websites.

I just got to Dulles and the TSA pre check was so fast I could hardly keep up. Fingers crossed coming back is as easy.