Lines at airports are getting better now that TSA agents are being paid – but it’s not ‘back to normal’ yet

The hellish long lines at major U.S. airports began to show signs of improvement Monday after weeks of travel chaos caused the government shutdown and security workers going without paychecks.

Most Transportation Security Administration officers started to receive pay for the first time in more than a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week as a “temporary fix” amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, which has now exceeded 40 days.

However, experts warned that the ordeal is not done, given that more than 500 agents have quit their jobs.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this TSA fiasco isn’t over just yet; it’s actually about to get worse,” former TSA officer Caleb Harmon-Marshall wrote on his travel Substack, Gate Access. “Travelers should remain cautious of long wait times at airports across the country for the next couple of weeks, as TSA officers are still financially strained due to extremely low paychecks.”

Aaron Barker, an Atlanta TSA officer and president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 554, told CNN that he believed more agents would quit in the coming weeks due to multiple missed paychecks.

“I do think that there’s going to be a mass exodus of officers,” Barker told the network. “Officers have gone into debt. Credit has been shot. Officers have been evicted. Cars have been repossessed.”

Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the union’s TSA Council 100, said back pay “is not going to address systemic issues” and it would be difficult for agents to recover from the shutdown, which is the longest in the agency’s nearly 25-year history.

Unions estimate that it could take “a week or so” for more TSA officers to return to work due to the disruption, as many were forced to cancel child care because they couldn’t afford to pay for it during the shutdown, CNN reports.

The Department of Homeland Security shutdown comes during one of the busiest travel periods of the year with students and families going on Spring break vacation.

Passengers have endured lines of up to four or five hours to pass through airport security in recent weeks, with queues stretching back into terminal parking garages and snaking around baggage claim carousels. Roughly 500 TSA agents have quit work during the shutdown after going without a paycheck.

As of Monday, lines at major airports were improving but airports in the New York City area remained the worst for security delays, according to estimated wait times online.

LaGuardia’s website still warned travelers that wait times were “significantly longer than normal,” with lines of up to 60 minutes, while Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy airports reported wait times of up to 45 minutes at some terminals.

In Texas, the security lines at Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston’s William P. Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental airports along with Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, which experienced some of the longest delays, had dropped to under 10 minutes.

Despite Trump’s temporary measure to pay TSA agents, the Department of Homeland Security will remain shut down until Congress returns from a two-week recess.

There were calls for lawmakers to cut their recess short amid growing anger over the shutdown.

White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that he hoped Trump would urge lawmakers to return sooner than April 13, when they are due back in Washington, D.C. “They’re on vacation right now while tens of thousands of DHS employees aren’t being paid,” he said on CBS News’ Face the Nation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were deployed to support the lines at airports, but the officers have largely been seen standing around, leaning on barricades, talking and texting on phones, and staring at long security lines.

“The Democrat shutdown has created chaos for American travelers and TSA employees alike,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Independent.

“Our great ICE officers are always ready to step in and help the American people when needed,” she said. “President Trump’s brilliant idea to send ICE to airports has helped make the travel process smoother for travelers and provided much-needed relief to TSA employees who the Democrats have forced to work without pay for so long.”