Tense scenes are unfolding at airports across the United States as a new government funding standoff forces thousands of Transportation Security Administration employees to report to work without pay. With the Department of Homeland Security now officially in shutdown as of February 14, 2026, security lines are lengthening, tempers are fraying and travel experts warn that the strain on the system could deepen into a full-blown aviation crisis if Washington does not quickly restore funding.
Another Shutdown, Same Frontline Casualties
The latest political impasse in Congress has left the Department of Homeland Security without new funding, even as the rest of the federal government remains financed through the end of September. That asymmetry means TSA agents, airport security staff and other homeland security employees are again caught in the crossfire, performing critical national security work without knowing when their next paycheck will arrive.
According to contingency plans released by federal officials, roughly 95 percent of TSA’s workforce is classified as essential. They must keep working even when appropriations lapse, unlike hundreds of thousands of other federal employees who can be furloughed during a shutdown. The result is a workforce that shoulders the same volume of passengers, baggage and potential threats, but with mounting financial anxiety.
Memories are still fresh from the record-length shutdowns of 2018–2019 and 2025, when airport bottlenecks developed gradually, then suddenly. Back then, weeks of unpaid work led to escalating sick calls and attrition among TSA officers and air traffic controllers, triggering sporadic checkpoint closures, terminal shutdowns and cascading delays at major hubs. This time, workers and managers alike warn that patience is thinner and personal finances more fragile, raising the prospect that system stress could surface even faster.
Early Signs of Strain at Major Hubs
On the first weekend of the shutdown, most flights were still taking off and landing on schedule, but strain was already emerging beneath the surface. At some of the nation’s busiest airports, early-morning checkpoint lines snaked into ticketing halls and toward terminal doors as screeners, working overtime without pay, struggled to keep wait times within agency standards.
Travelers in Houston, Chicago, Boston and other major cities reported waits exceeding 90 minutes at peak times. During the 2025 shutdown, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports saw security lines extend past four hours at periods when several checkpoints had to be closed because too few TSA officers reported for duty. Local aviation officials at the time warned that such delays would persist as long as the government remained shut, underscoring how quickly staffing shortfalls can snarl airport operations.
While the Federal Aviation Administration’s core operations are funded through separate legislation this year and air traffic controllers are still being paid, the ground realities at airport checkpoints threaten to become the decisive factor in whether flights depart on time. Airlines can have crews, aircraft and flight plans ready, but if hundreds of passengers are still stuck in security queues, departures may be held, triggering knock-on disruptions through the national network.
Security Versus Speed at the Checkpoint
For travelers, the most visible symptom of the shutdown is the length of the security line. For aviation authorities, however, the deeper concern is maintaining security standards when a stressed workforce is asked to do more with less support. TSA officers are trained to spot subtle behavioral cues, unusual baggage contents and evolving threat patterns, all while moving passengers through checkpoints as efficiently as possible. That dual mission becomes harder when paychecks stop and officers juggle side jobs or worry about overdue bills.
Past shutdowns have shown that TSA can keep average wait times within official targets for a while, but at a cost. Unscheduled absences rise as officers burn out or seek temporary work in other industries. Supervisors are forced into triage decisions, consolidating multiple lanes into fewer checkpoints and temporarily closing lightly used terminals to concentrate staff. While the agency publicly insists that no corners are cut on security, experts caution that any system put under sustained pressure is at greater risk of error.
Security advocates also warn of more subtle risks. With hiring and training pipelines disrupted by repeated shutdowns, TSA has struggled to retain experienced officers and field supervisors. Each new funding crisis sends a signal to potential recruits that airport security work is economically precarious, potentially discouraging long-term careers in a role that demands vigilance, professionalism and constant retraining to keep pace with emerging threats.
Human Toll on Frontline Aviation Workers
Behind the statistics and political rhetoric are thousands of TSA employees who, as of mid-February, are once again working full-time for no immediate pay. Many earn modest salaries and live paycheck to paycheck. During the 43-day shutdown several years ago, officers across the country reported visiting food banks, delaying rent payments, selling plasma and taking overnight gig work simply to keep up with basic expenses. Some slept in their cars near airports to save on gasoline.
The emotional impact of recurring shutdowns is harder to quantify but equally significant. Union representatives say members feel both pride and resentment: pride at keeping the traveling public safe, resentment at being treated as expendable bargaining chips in broader political disputes over immigration, border policy and federal spending. Each new lapse in funding deepens cynicism that back pay, awarded after the fact, compensates for the stress and disruption of weeks without income.
Air traffic controllers and other aviation personnel have lived through similar cycles. Though their paychecks are protected in this particular standoff, recent shutdowns forced many to work without pay while also covering mandatory overtime in a system already short of experienced controllers. That strain contributed to higher fatigue, more staffing gaps and, according to safety watchdogs, a series of near-miss incidents on runways and in crowded airspace corridors.
Lessons From Previous Shutdown Travel Chaos
Travelers confronting long lines this week are not the first to experience shutdown turbulence at the airport. The 2018–2019 shutdown, at 35 days the longest in U.S. history at the time, offered a stark preview of what happens when federal aviation workers are pushed past their limits. Sick-outs among controllers led the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly halt arrivals into New York’s LaGuardia Airport, producing ripple-effect delays at Newark, Philadelphia and other northeastern hubs. Terminals in Miami and Houston temporarily closed due to lack of available TSA staff.
In 2025, a separate funding crisis produced similar scenes, notably in Houston, where TSA checkpoint closures forced all passengers through just a fraction of the normal security lanes. Wait times surpassed four hours in some instances, and lines spilled outside terminal buildings. Even passengers enrolled in trusted traveler programs, who typically enjoy expedited screening, found their dedicated lanes backed up.
Those episodes illustrate how quickly localized staff shortages can snowball into national disruption. A closed checkpoint at one airport may force airlines to delay or cancel flights, which then strand aircraft and crews in the wrong cities for subsequent legs. Missing a morning flight from a hub can mean a missed connection and a domino line of cancellations that stretch well into the evening. For travelers, what starts as an extra hour at the security queue can evolve into missed vacations, scrapped business meetings and overnight stays in unfamiliar cities.
What Travelers Can Expect in the Coming Weeks
For now, aviation authorities emphasize that the skies remain safe and that the majority of flights are still operating, albeit with growing pockets of delay. However, history strongly suggests that the real test will come if the shutdown drags into late February and March, when many TSA employees will have missed one or more full pay cycles. That is the point at which absenteeism traditionally begins to climb, training backlogs grow and morale erodes sharply.
Experts caution that disruptions tend to build unevenly. Smaller and mid-sized airports, which rely on a single checkpoint or a relatively small number of officers, may feel the pain first. A handful of unscheduled absences can quickly stretch remaining staff beyond capacity, turning a moderate midweek rush into a grinding ordeal. Larger hubs may be able to reassign officers between terminals or shift part-time staff, but their sheer passenger volume means that even small reductions in throughput translate into significant queueing.
Travel demand patterns will also influence how the crisis unfolds. The weeks ahead include winter break travel for many schools, along with early spring leisure trips. If congressional negotiations remain deadlocked during that period, travelers could see a repeat of earlier shutdowns, where airports that had coped reasonably well for the first two weeks suddenly experienced dramatic breakdowns as the combination of high demand and short staffing became untenable.
Advice for Travelers Navigating the Shutdown
For travelers with upcoming flights, the new shutdown adds another layer of uncertainty to an already complex air travel environment. Industry risk advisers and travel managers are urging clients to treat this period much like a major holiday rush, regardless of the calendar. That means arriving substantially earlier than usual for flights, paying close attention to airline notifications and, when possible, booking itineraries with longer connection windows to allow for delays at the checkpoint.
Most airports now publish estimated security wait times through their information channels, although these can change rapidly during a staffing crunch. Travelers should monitor these indicators in the days and hours before departure rather than waiting until they arrive at the terminal. Packing discipline also matters more than ever: bags that require secondary screening for oversized liquids, prohibited items or cluttered electronics can bog down already stressed lanes and further slow the line for everyone behind.
For those yet to book, choosing early morning departures can help, as security lines are often shorter and the overall system less congested than during late-afternoon peaks. Direct flights reduce the risk that a delay at one airport will cause a missed connection at another. Travelers with access to trusted traveler programs may see some benefits, but previous shutdowns have shown that even expedited lanes can back up when staffing is thin.
Political Standoff With Real-World Consequences
At its core, the airport turmoil is a symptom of a broader political stalemate. Lawmakers remain at odds over immigration enforcement, border policies and oversight of homeland security agencies. Instead of confining the dispute to committee rooms and negotiating tables, the impasse now reverberates through departure halls and concourses from Atlanta to Los Angeles, turning routine trips into stress tests for millions of ordinary travelers.
Trade groups representing airlines, airports and the wider travel industry have issued increasingly urgent warnings that repeated shutdowns erode confidence in the reliability of U.S. air travel. Every extended delay and missed connection reinforces the perception that the system is vulnerable to political shocks beyond the control of carriers or airport managers. For inbound international visitors, the sight of unpaid security officers guarding crowded checkpoints can be a jarring introduction to the nation they are visiting.
As negotiations continue in Washington, the question is no longer whether the shutdown will affect travel. The early evidence is clear that it already has. The looming concern for both aviation professionals and passengers is how severe the disruption will become, and how long it will last, if a funding agreement does not arrive soon. Until it does, U.S. airports will remain on the front lines of a political crisis playing out in real time, one extended security line at a time.