Airport security delays continue despite ICE deployments
A day after federal immigration agents were deployed to some of the nation’s busiest airports, extreme delays persisted at security checkpoints, with travelers experiencing historically long wait times.
The presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers seemed to have little effect. The Transportation Security Administration is still dealing with employees calling out sick or even quitting their jobs as a partial government shutdown prevents them from being paid.
Continued delays lead to limited tracking
The nation’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, is experiencing lines so long and crowds so large that it has stopped updating its security wait-time tracking page.
The page typically details the length of delays at each checkpoint. Now, the page simply reads, “Due to current federal conditions, passengers are advised to allow at least 4 hours or more for domestic and international screenings.”
“We simply do not have a system that’s designed to track passenger movements outside of the security checkpoint,” the airport’s general manager, Ricky Smith, told CNN.
Smith noted at one point that lines extended past checkpoints, into baggage claim and, in some cases, out onto the curbside.
However, he said the airport is seeing a bit of a reprieve on Tuesday.
“Right now, we’re experiencing more calm than we’ve seen in a very long time,” he told CNN.
LaGuardia Airport in New York is taking the same approach. While its wait-time page is still active, no times are listed, and the page notes that wait times are longer than normal. The situation there has been worsened by an investigation into a collision late Sunday between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck crossing a runway. Two people died in the crash.
“Wait time reporting has been temporarily suspended,” LaGuardia’s page reads. “Please allow for significantly more time and check with your airline for the current status of your flight.”
And JFK? Their wait-time page is the same.
What do wait times currently look like?
While we can’t track wait times at all airports because the pages are down, some airports are still actively reporting. At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, wait times at terminals A and E are around four hours — or even longer.
The page even has an urgent warning, saying the government shutdown is affecting all TSA checkpoints and that missing flights may be possible.
While not as severe, Salt Lake City and Denver are still dealing with longer-than-normal delays, at 20 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, other major hubs aren’t seeing delays at all. LAX in Los Angeles is reporting quick security lines, as are Chicago O’Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
