Video captures crazy airport crowds as passengers pour into terminal after security checkpoints close

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While TSA officers on the front lines of airports across the nation continue to miss their paychecks, chaos is grippingsome U.S.airports.

Footage from the Philadelphia International Airport, shot early Thursday morning, shows hundreds of passengers waiting on elevators and escalators to get through a security check point.

The airport announced it was temporarily closing three security checkpoints “to help optimize operations across other checkpoints,” starting Wednesday.

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The Philadelphia International Airport has a total of six main checkpoints — now with just half of those points open and operating.

Travelers stand on stairway waiting to enter TSA

The Philadelphia International Airport has temporarily closed three security checkpoints.Pictured above, the scene on Thursday morning at the airport.

Travelers stand in long TSA line in Philly

TSA wait times are posted on the Philadelphia International Airport’s website.

As of 9 a.m., the longest wait time was at the airport’s Terminal B checkpoint, at 20 minutes — which the spokesperson said was “not unusual for this time of day.”

partial government shutdown.”

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has had lines as long as 90 minutes with the airport posting on X to alert travelers to arrive three hours early.

“According to TSA projections, ATL expects nearly 350K travelers from Thursday, March 19, through Sunday, March 22,” the airport wrote on X.

Airport passengers wait in an hours-long security line at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, US, on Monday, March 9, 2026.

Over 360 TSA officers have quit their jobs so far during this shutdown, while there was a national callout rate of 10.19% on Sunday.(Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“The reality is [that] as this continues, as our officers continue not to receive a paycheck, it just stretches into weeks … [and] rates [of callouts] are going to continue to go up,” said Stahl.

“We’re going to have individuals that can’t afford to go into work and individuals quit, possibly altogether.”

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So far, 366 TSA officers have quit during the shutdown, while there was a national callout rate of 10.

“We’re determining [airport and security line closures] based on staffing, but we have federal security directors on the ground who are experts in their particular airport, the configuration, demographic, and travel and patterns tied to that [respective] airport,” he also said.

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Ashley J.