{"id":197323,"date":"2026-03-09T22:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/197323\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T22:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:50:07","slug":"dfw-airport-love-field-prepare-for-busy-spring-break-as-partial-federal-shutdown-hits-tsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/197323\/","title":{"rendered":"DFW Airport, Love Field prepare for busy spring break as partial federal shutdown hits TSA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">With clocks having sprung forward, spring break travel season \u2014 along with packed airports \u2014 is upon us once again. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/topic\/dfw-airport\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/topic\/dfw-airport\/\">DFW International Airport<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/topic\/love-field\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/topic\/love-field\/\">Dallas Love Field<\/a>  expect heavy traffic in the weeks ahead, especially as a partial government shutdown persists. Many Transportation Security Administration officers have gone unpaid, creating massive security line backlogs at a few major airports, including in Houston. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Currently, Dallas area travel hubs aren\u2019t among them, but they are expected to see a surge in passengers asspring break shifts into high gear. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\"> DFW Airport, the central hub of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/topic\/american-airlines\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/topic\/american-airlines\/\">American Airlines<\/a>, is expecting roughly 4.7 million passengers to pass through the airport between March 5 and March 24. The airport said it is expecting the busiest travel days to be the weekends of March 13-16 and March 20-23. <\/p>\n<p>Aviation News<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__3beff secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-20 text-center text-gray-dark\">Stay prepared. Receive the latest airlines news, delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__8MgJa flex flex-wrap text-gray-dark secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-10 text-center justify-center\">By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/terms-of-service\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Three dates \u2014 March 13, 15 and 22 \u2014 could each see more than 250,000 travelers pass through the busy travel hub, according to the airport. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The airport  recommends travelers arrive at least two hours before domestic flights and three hours prior to international flights. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cBuilding in extra time can help customers navigate heavier traffic, busy terminal curbs, parking demand and elevated activity at check-in and security screening areas,\u201d DFW said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Love Field, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/airlines\/2026\/03\/09\/southwest-airlines-longest-flight-from-dallas-to-seattle\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/airlines\/2026\/03\/09\/southwest-airlines-longest-flight-from-dallas-to-seattle\/\">Southwest Airlines<\/a> is the dominant carrier, is smaller than its crosstown counterpart, but it will also see heavy traffic in its own right. Between Monday and March 22, Love is expected to see 480,000 travelers pass through. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019d also anticipate these numbers increasing as new bookings occur throughout each day,\u201d Lauren Rounds, a spokesperson for the airport, told The Dallas Morning News in a statement. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Rounds added that the travel estimates do not take into account the limited flights operated by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Spring break this year is arriving on the heels of what has been a rocky time for air travel in recent weeks, following the killing of the leader of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/airlines\/2026\/02\/24\/southwest-and-american-airlines-resume-flights-puerto-vallarta-mexico\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/airlines\/2026\/02\/24\/southwest-and-american-airlines-resume-flights-puerto-vallarta-mexico\/\">powerful Mexican cartel leader<\/a> and disruptions tied to  the U.S. war in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Related<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"aspect-ratio:190 \/ 127\" class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-related-story-module__2UraD flex-none object-cover dmnc_images-modern-image-module__QFaG- max-w-full h-auto text-white dmnc_images-modern-image-module__9Zlll bg-gray-light object-contain dmnc_images-modern-image-module__P3kZ4 w-full\" width=\"190\" height=\"127\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AOQWSWA2QNH3LI5RGL5HRLNTDE.jpg\" alt=\"A traveler checks departure times as many flights are cancelled at Beirut Rafik Hariri...\"\/> \u2018No significant or abnormal impact\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The latest  effects of the partial government shutdown have created long lines at some major U.S. airports, <a href=\"https:\/\/fly2houston.com\/airport-business\/newsroom\/articles\/item\/frequently-asked-questions-tsa-screening\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/fly2houston.com\/airport-business\/newsroom\/articles\/item\/frequently-asked-questions-tsa-screening\/\">including in Houston<\/a>, although the impact hasn\u2019t been felt in North Texas so far. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Zachary Greiner, a spokesperson for DFW Airport, said Monday that airport operations \u201cremain normal,\u201d adding that \u201csecurity screening at the airport is managed by the TSA, so for questions regarding staffing or federal program operations we would recommend reaching out to TSA or DHS directly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Rounds told The News that \u201cno significant or abnormal operational impacts have been reported at DAL.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Chris Sununu, the president and CEO of Airlines for America, a lobbying group representing American, Southwest, Delta, United and others, urged an end to the shutdown as spring break travel approaches. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cAs TSA officers are facing a $0 paycheck this week, we are seeing firsthand the significant strains that the current DHS shutdown is causing across the aviation system,\u201d Sununu <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airlines.org\/news-update\/a4a-statement-on-extraordinarily-long-tsa-lines-at-some-u-s-airports\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.airlines.org\/news-update\/a4a-statement-on-extraordinarily-long-tsa-lines-at-some-u-s-airports\/\">said in a statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cTSA lines are two and three hours long at some airports, causing flights to be delayed and passengers to miss flights,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cThe shutdown is having very real consequences, and hardworking federal aviation workers, the airline industry and our passengers are being used as a political football once again. This is simply unacceptable and un-American.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With clocks having sprung forward, spring break travel season \u2014 along with packed airports \u2014 is upon us&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31,737,102,104,103,5721,15387,7329],"class_list":{"0":"post-197323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-airlines","9":"tag-american-airlines","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-headlines","12":"tag-dallas-news","13":"tag-dfw-airport","14":"tag-love-field","15":"tag-southwest-airlines"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}