TSA officers skip work as paychecks stop during shutdown, airports face chaos nationwide

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As the partial government shutdown continues to drag on, Transportation Security Administration officers are not getting their paychecks due to the lapse in funding at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Over the weekend, airports across the country faced long security delays, with TSA officers calling out of work.

There was a national callout rate of 10.� that’s the highest rate the agency has seen.

AIRPORT SECURITY STRAIN DURING SHUTDOWN GROWS AS UNPAID TSA OFFICERS WARN, ‘WE’RE HURTING’

Videos circulating of theAustin-Bergstrom International Airportin Texas show passengers standing in long lines outside.

The airport itself posted video on its X account on Saturday showing travelers lined up at 4:30 a.m.

Good morning, travelers.
Here is a 4:30 am view of the general security line for Checkpoint 1.
We’re expecting a record-breaking volume of people — there are about 38k of you flying out today.Please arrive at least 2.5 hours prior to your flight’s departure for domestic. pic.twitter.com/4BSomFYRXz
— Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (@AustinAirport) March 16, 2026

“We’re expecting a record-breaking volume of people — there are about 38K of you flying out today,” the caption said.

“Please arrive at least 2.5 hours prior to your flight’s departure for domestic.”

Passengers were waitingfor 80 minutes on Sunday and just over an hour on Saturday.

The highest peak wait times seen in Austin were on March 13 at 90 minutes.

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

The national callout rate for TSA officers was 10.19% this past Sunday.(Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

On Sunday, LaGuardia Airport (LGA) inNew York Cityfaced wait times of nearly three hours, with callout rates of 25.

Not far away, John F.Kennedy Airport (JFK) had a 28.2% callout rate, while Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey had a 13.83% callout rate.

Over 300 airport security officers have left TSA since the start of the DHS shutdown.(Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)

American travel website The Points Guy posted a video of Austin airport lines and captioned the post: “It’s the TSA Hunger Games at many airports across the country.”

The post continued, “Never settle for a long line,” adding a few tipsit felt travelers should know.

“There are multiple entry points and sometimes CLEAR or PreCheck can be long.I got through Touchless TSA PreCheck in 2 minutes,” the group suggested.“You can opt in to Touchless ID ASAP in your airline loyalty app.”

Flight passengers wait in TSA lines in chicago

“It’s the TSA Hunger Games at many airports across the country,” said one travel account about what’s going on right now. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Finally, passengers were advised to “be nice!Everyone is stressed, and TSA agents have missed a paycheck.Even if you have to wait, don’t take it out on frontline officers.”

onelink.me/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.

Deondre White, a TSA officer at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in D.C.�financially trying to do the best that they can.”

White said that thanks to the financial support ofhis own family,he’s been able “to show up” for his job.

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“I’m thankful for my family to be able to come to work and be able to provide gas [to travel to work] because the gas prices have been rising,” he said.“However, there are a lot of officers here who do not have those resources or family commitments from others [to help them out].”

He added, “When we’re here, we will do our best as always.We have acrucial mission.We do take that very seriously.”

Ashley J.