“We appreciate your patience and understanding as our partners work to maintain the safety of all passengers,” the airport said on social media.

HOUSTON — If you were flying out of Hobby on Sunday, you probably found yourself in an hours-long line to get through security. It comes as the government remains in a partial shutdown and big crowds are traveling for spring break.

Shortly after 1:30 p.m., the airport reported wait times that could be three hours or more to get through the standard security checkpoint. Throughout the day, we’ve seen the security wait times on the Fly2Houston.com website go between two hours and 3.5 hours.  

The airport is urging passengers to arrive at the airport four to five hours before their scheduled flights, citing, in part, the partial federal government shutdown.  

“We appreciate your patience and understanding as our partners work to maintain the safety of all passengers,” the airport said on social media.



The FAA website, at one point, was also reporting a ground stop for flights leaving to Hobby Airport “due to airport volume.” That ground stop was later dropped.


We originally posted this story Sunday morning, reported wait times were two hours. When that story was posted to our social media, several of you responded that it was longer. 

If line was only 2hrs we wouldn’t have left and rebooked.

— kevin 💥 (@KevinRomeis) March 8, 2026

It’s way longer than 2 hours. I’m driving to Dallas to fly back home to Birmingham. I arrived for my flight 2.5 hours early and never had a chance to make it

— Michael Shropshire (@m_d_shropshire) March 8, 2026

Wait times at George Bush Intercontinental Airport were significantly shorter, with the longest security checkpoint being at Terminal C with a 26 minute wait. You can check the latest wait times on fly2houston.com.

In addition to the shutdown impacting staffing, spring break is drawing large crowds at the airports. Houston Airports officials said they expect more than 2.2 million passengers to travel through Hobby and Bush, making it one of the busiest travel stretches of the year.

KHOU 11’s Michelle Choi was at Bush Airport Saturday morning to speak with travelers.

“It’s just totally busy,” traveler Anna Gazis said. “I’ve never seen it like this, wild.”

Gazis was headed home to Connecticut to help her parents pack for a move. She said that despite the crowds, she remained cautiously optimistic.

“Definitely frustrating, but I’m not too concerned,” she said. “I think we’re going to get through, I just wish we could get through faster.”

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