Airports brace for weekend travel, long lines as shutdown continues
Airports brace for weekend travel, long lines as shutdown continues
N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAYThu, March 26, 2026 at 7:26 PM UTC
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Airport security wait times eased slightly as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers began assisting with screening at major airports amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, but some cities are bracing for another influx of weekend travelers.
Travel at airports across the country got off to a chaotic start to the week as wait times hit the highest level in history. Estimated wait times for TSA security lines appeared to shrink midweek in cities, including Atlanta, New Orleans and Houston. But Fridays, Mondays and the weekend see more travelers than midweek days, and some airports are expecting longer lines.
"While passenger volumes briefly declined on Wednesday, resulting in shorter wait times, significantly higher passenger traffic is expected on Thursday and Friday," airport officials in Houston said in a statement.
How long is TSA wait time at my airport? Here's how to check
ICE officers were deployed to more than a dozen airports to ease disruptions as Transportation Security Administration worker absences soared due to a lapse in Department of Homeland Security funding.
Lauren Bis, the Department of Homeland Security's acting assistant secretary for public affairs, confirmed late on March 25 that "after receiving standard TSA training curriculum, ICE officers are guarding entrances and exits, assisting with logistics, doing crowd control, and verifying identification using TSA equipment and standard operating procedures."
Travelers and officials have questioned how much ICE is helping ease the long lines. But President Donald Trump said ICE "makes a big difference," and he is considering sending the National Guard to airports as well.
Ahead of their Easter recess, the House and Senate were set to vote March 26 on whether to advance a DHS funding measure to end the shutdown, which has gone on for nearly six weeks. Momentum to end the shutdown from earlier in the week appeared to have slowed as the Senate once again voted against moving forward with a proposal to fund DHS on March 25.
Here's what to know about the wait times at major airports:
1 / 0ICE agents appear at airports as TSA delays snarl check-in
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026. Hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps across the country.
Atlanta
Lines wrapped back outside Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport early on March 26, WXIA-TV reported.
The airport had some of the longest lines in the country on March 23, with passengers waiting upward of five hours in line before ever reaching the security checkpoint. Videos shared on social media on March 25 showed lines fluctuating throughout the day, shrinking between the early morning and afternoon rushes.
The airport's website still advises travelers to plan for security screenings to take at least four hours. A Delta employee who goes by "Money Man Dan" on TikTok has said "two to three hours will be more than enough time to get you through."
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MARCH 26: An ICE agent checks ID's at the security check point in Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 26, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.The travel disruptions continue as hundreds of TSA agents quit or work without pay during a partial government shutdown. U.S. President Donald Trump said ICE agents will be deployed to U.S. airports on Monday, with border czar Tom Homan in charge of the effort.(Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images)Baltimore
Lines were long on the morning of March 26 at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, but conditions "normalized" by mid-morning, Jonathan Dean, a spokesperson for the airport told USA TODAY. Wait times were about five minutes or less as of 2 p.m., he said.
Wait time estimates are currently unavailable on the airport's website, but travelers were advised to arrive at least 3 hours early, officials said. Dean said the real time estimates likely won't be available any time soon.
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"We continue to encourage customers to arrive very early to the airport," Dean said. "Those wait times can change throughout the day."
Chicago
FlightQueue showed moderate security wait times at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, with an average wait of 15-30 minutes, as of 9:30 a.m. on March 26. The site also showed an average wait of less than 15 minutes for security at Midway Airport.
Houston
Wait times at George Bush Intercontinental Airport may reach four hours or longer on March 26, TSA and airport officials said in a statement. The lines may even stretch outside, officials said.
"Passenger volumes are expected to increase significantly through the end of the week, driven by major events in Houston, including CERAWeek and the NCAA Men’s Sweet 16," the statement said.
Wait times at the city's other airport, William P. Hobby Airport, were less than 15 minutes in the afternoon on March 26, according to Houston Airports.
New Orleans
As of 10 a.m. local time, TSA lines at Louis Armstrong International Airport were slightly busier than those on March than on the day before, but were only taking about 15 to 20 minutes or less, airport spokesperson Erin Burns told The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.
Burns told outlet the the lines have greatly improved over the course of the week, but said travelers departing on Sunday or Monday should still expect a wait.
New Jersey and New York
Estimated wait times are no longer displayed on New Jersey and New York airport websites, but some third-party sites like TSA Wait Times, Fly Index and Takeoff Timer are offering real-time updates.
Newark Liberty International Airport TSA wait times were around 20-25 minutes, as of the morning of March 26.
At LaGuardia Airport, TSA wait times on Thursday averaged 3 hours and 30 minutes due to a combined TSA staffing shortage and a ground delay, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, TSA Wait Times and Takeoff Timer.
John F. Kennedy International Airport TSA wait times hit 3 hours as of 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 26, travelers reported on TSA Wait Times, though on average, the general security wait lines have been around 30 minutes. TSA PreCheck averaged 5 minutes this morning, with two of six TSA PreCheck lanes closed at JFK open today, Thursday, March 26, according to Takeoff Timer.
Philadelphia
Here are the wait times for PHL security checkpoints as of March 26 in the morning:
Terminal A-East: 12 mins standard security, 2 mins TSA PreCheck
Terminal B: 7 mins standard security
Terminal D/E: 6 mins standard security, 2 mins TSA PreCheck
To give travelers a better framework of what they can expect at the airport, live wait time updates can be found on the airport's checkpoint hours page as wait times shift throughout the day.
Contributing: Irene Wright, Natalie Neysa Alund, Nathan Diller, Michelle Del Rey, and Kaitlyn McCormick, USA TODAY; Lori Comstock, USA TODAY NETWORK
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Airports brace for weekend travel, long lines as shutdown continues
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