{"id":201253,"date":"2026-03-12T11:22:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/201253\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T11:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:22:32","slug":"tsa-lines-at-hobby-airport-shorten-tuesday-amid-partial-government-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/201253\/","title":{"rendered":"TSA lines at Hobby Airport shorten Tuesday amid partial government shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 As spring break<\/a> travel ramps up across Houston, some passengers flying out of William P. Hobby Airport<\/a> are facing unusually long waits to get through security.<\/p>\n

Travelers reported security lines stretching for hours over the weekend, with some passengers waiting close to three hours to clear Transportation Security Administration<\/a> checkpoints.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, lines were already forming early as travelers tried to get through security ahead of their flights. TSA checkpoints at Hobby opened around 3 a.m., and many passengers lined up shortly afterward, hoping to beat the rush.<\/p>\n

According to Houston Airports<\/a>, the standard wait time at Hobby has recently hovered around 90 minutes for regular security screening, while TSA PreCheck<\/a> travelers have seen much shorter waits of about three minutes.<\/p>\n

Why lines are longer at Hobby<\/p>\n

Airport officials say the biggest difference between Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airport<\/a> comes down to staffing.<\/p>\n

Officials report more TSA callouts at Hobby, which have slowed screening and led to longer lines for travelers.<\/p>\n

The contrast is noticeable. At Bush Airport, most checkpoints have been reporting wait times of three to five minutes, depending on the terminal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to make my flight,\u201d one traveler told KPRC 2 as lines continued to build.<\/p>\n

Government shutdown adding pressure<\/p>\n

The delays come as the country experiences a partial government shutdown that began Feb. 14, affecting the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TSA.<\/p>\n

During shutdowns, TSA officers are required to continue working even though they are not receiving paychecks. Labor leaders warn that extended shutdowns can lead to more workers missing shifts as they seek additional work to cover expenses such as gas, childcare, and bills.<\/p>\n

Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the TSA union\u2019s bargaining unit, said morale has taken a hit as officers prepare to miss their first full paycheck since the shutdown began.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last 15 months, TSA officers have gone through three government shutdowns,\u201d Jones told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

He said it took months for many workers to recover financially from the previous 43-day shutdown.<\/p>\n

Long lines at several airports<\/p>\n

While Hobby has seen some of the longest delays, it is not the only airport dealing with security backups.<\/p>\n

Long lines were also reported at airports in New Orleans<\/a> and Atlanta<\/a>, where travelers waited more than an hour to clear security over the weekend.<\/p>\n

At Hobby, wait times eased slightly by Monday afternoon but were still around two hours at times, prompting airport officials to urge travelers to arrive three to four hours before their flight.<\/p>\n

The airport handled nearly 15 million passengers in 2024, making it smaller than Bush Intercontinental Airport but still a major hub for Houston travelers.<\/p>\n

What travelers can do<\/p>\n

Airport leaders recommend passengers flying during the busy spring break season:<\/p>\n

Arrive at the airport at least 3\u20134 hours before departure<\/p>\n

Check security wait times on Fly2Houston.com<\/p>\n

Consider TSA PreCheck, which currently has much shorter lines.<\/p>\n

With millions of Americans traveling for spring break and the shutdown continuing, officials warn that delays could return if security checkpoints become short-staffed during busy travel periods.<\/p>\n

Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n

More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 As spring break travel ramps up across Houston, some passengers flying out of William P. Hobby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[35830,79359,5416,56,79358,58,57,79357,45929,6208,4024,22096,79356],"class_list":["post-201253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-airport-wait-times","tag-government-shutdown-effects","tag-hobby-airport","tag-houston","tag-houston-airport-security","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-travel-news","tag-spring-break","tag-travel","tag-tsa","tag-tsa-precheck","tag-tsa-staffing-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201253","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=201253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}