Passenger traffic moves at what a supervisor described as a normal pace at Checkpoint 3 at Miami International Airport on Friday, March 20, 2026, as a partial government shutdown causes TSA worker shortages and leads to long security lines nationwide.
Pedro Portal
pportal@miamiherald.com
Travelers at Miami International Airport experienced some longer than usual security lines early Friday morning, but by midday the waits had shortened and MIA continued returning to normal.
That improvement followed several hundred delays and cancellations over the past weekend at MIA and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, a result of winter storms hitting the East Coast, college Spring Break in South Florida and Transportation Security Administration agents forced to yet again work for free.
On Friday around 1 p.m., MIA had zero cancelled flights, according to analytics firm FlightAware.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood had just five canceled flights.
Asked about reports of crowds at FLL on Friday, spokesperson Arlene Satchell said that wasn’t related to TSA staffing.
“We are aware of sporadic long lines at some airline ticket counters,” she said, but added that was due to another peak in spring travel that the airport expects to go through this weekend.
“As of 2 p.m. Friday, there were no unusual issues with Transportation Security Administration lines,” she said.
At MIA early on Friday morning, TSA lines were busier. The longest wait at a TSA checkpoint ranged from 18 minutes to 35 minutes, Greg Chin, communications director, told the Miami Herald. He said that was in part due to TSA staffing issues.
By noon, that wait time dropped to between 1 and 31 minutes, he said. Those times that MIA provides are begin when entering the roped line until a traveler gets through a TSA agent.
An information monitor shows departing and arriving flights with no cancellations at Miami International Airport on Friday, March 20, 2026, as a partial government shutdown causes TSA worker shortages and leads to long security lines nationwide. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com
The Herald visited MIA on Friday between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and saw improvements. The road leading to the North Terminal was clear and plenty of space was available to drop off passengers.
Entering Concourse D, TSA Checkpoint 1 had 30-50 travelers in line and TSA Checkpoint 2 had 1-10. Both lines were moving swiftly. TSA Checkpoint 3 was more crowded with more than 100 travelers. That is a dynamic process: one minute the lines can be long, the other they dissipate.
Still, few people waited at ticket counters or in line at Au Bon Pain, and nobody was waiting to order anything at Starbucks. The concourse hallways had enough space for an airport employee to push a stack of two dozen SmarteCarte luggage carts unimpeded.
MIA did seem affected by TSA staffing issues. Checkpoint 4, next to Kentucky Fried Chicken and Peet’s Coffee, remained closed. Another checkpoint, farther inside the terminal and used by arriving international passengers who have connections, was closed. It had been open on Wednesday.
Heavy traffic backs up at the arrivals entrances to terminals at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday, March 20, 2026.. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com
Flight delays were still evident. MIA had 169 delays on Friday as of 1 p.m., according to FlightAware. That’s out of an average of 1,200 daily flights at the airport. FLL had 158 delays.
Chin cautioned travelers to expect larger crowds and longer lines on Friday evening and through the weekend. That’s because a new Spring Break starts: one for local school kids. Travelers are being asked by the airport to arrive three hours before their flights.
This story was originally published March 20, 2026 at 5:40 PM.
Miami Herald
Vinod Sreeharsha covers tourism trends in South Florida for the Miami Herald.