Long security lines at Houston, New Orleans airports as DHS funding affects TSA staffing

Airline passengers faced long security lines that took hours to get through in New Orleans and Houston on Sunday, as the Transportation Security Administration deals with continued absences amid the ongoing partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.

TSA agents have been working without pay since the start of the partial shutdown, which began Feb. 14 after Congress could not come to an agreement to extend funding for several agencies. The long lines also come amid increased travel for spring break, 

At Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, travelers were told to arrive at least 3 hours before their flights.

“Due to impacts from the federal government’s partial shutdown, the TSA is experiencing a shortage of workers at the security checkpoint, which is causing longer-than-average lines,” the airport said on social media.

The airport said in a statement that security line wait times could be as long as 2 hours, and that the delays could continue throughout the week.

“We’ve got really, really long lines at the airport, and, from talking to the airport officials, it appears that this has to do with the funding bill in Congress,” New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said in a video posted to Instagram. “TSA agents didn’t receive a paycheck, so you have a lot of the workforce that has called in sick, which is causing these huge, huge lines.”     

Other videos posted to social media showed security lines stretching out into the airport’s parking garage.

At Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, passengers were told to arrive four to 5 hours before their departure times, with security line wait times that could stretch over 3 hours. Images and videos from Houston showing long lines also flooded social media on Sunday.

The battle to fund DHS continues in Washington, as Democrats continue to demand reforms before signing on to any legislation to extend the agency’s funding. A bipartisan agreement had been reached earlier in the year that would have funded DHS through September. But the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis in January then prompted Democrats to demand reforms to immigration enforcement, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying at the time, “we need to rein in ICE and end the violence.”

Last week, the House approved a measure to fund DHS through September in a 221 to 209 vote, but a similar bill failed to get the necessary 60 votes in the Senate, managing only 51.

Chris Sununu, president and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade group for U.S. airlines, in a statement urged Congress and the Trump administration to act.

“We are in spring break travel season and expecting record numbers of people to take to the skies. Airlines have done their part to prepare; now Congress and the administration must act with urgency to reach a deal that reopens DHS and ends this shutdown,” he said. “America’s transportation security workforce is too important to be used as political leverage.”

Jessica Andersen Alexie and her two children, 10 and 13, were among the travelers caught in the long lines at Hobby in Houston as they tried to return home to New Orleans. They had been in Houston for the World Baseball Classic.

Alexie said they arrived 3 hours early to find a long line and realized they would not make their flight. While in line, she checked rental cars to see if driving home might be an option but couldn’t find any available. She was able to rebook for a late-night flight and felt relieved to get through the CLEAR security line after about 3 1/2 hours.

When they finally sat down to eat, she decided to take another look at available flights, on the chance that others in line had to cancel and rearrange their plans, and found three seats on a flight that got her family home Sunday afternoon. When they landed at the New Orleans airport, the line extended out to the parking garage, she said.

“It was nuts,” she said. “It was crazy.”