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Sunday proved to be a challenging day for travelers passing through airports in Houston and New Orleans, as they faced extended wait times at security checkpoints. The delays, which in some cases stretched into hours, have been attributed to disruptions stemming from a shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
At Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, the anticipated wait time for security checks soared to an astonishing three hours early Sunday evening, as reported by the Houston Airports website. This surge in wait times coincided with an uptick in passenger numbers, likely due to the onset of spring break, as the airport had cautioned on social media just days prior.
Throughout Sunday, Hobby Airport’s presence on social media platform X evolved from a simple reminder to arrive early to increasingly urgent pleas for travelers to plan to be at the airport 4 to 5 hours ahead of their flights. This escalation highlighted the impact of the partial government shutdown on security operations and its potential to cause significant delays.
Meanwhile, Houston Airports, which manages both Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airport, acknowledged that the shutdown could affect security operations on a day-to-day and shift-to-shift basis. Despite the chaos at Hobby, travelers at George Bush Intercontinental experienced minimal delays, with wait times reported to be merely minutes early Sunday evening.
In New Orleans, the situation was similarly fraught. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport also turned to X to inform passengers about “longer-than-average” lines due to a shortage of TSA agents. The airport advised travelers to arrive at least three hours before their flights, warning that wait times could reach up to two hours and that such delays might persist throughout the week.
It’s not immediately clear if the delays in Houston and New Orleans were happening at other airports around the country. Sunday’s longer-than-usual wait times came on top of flight delays in recent days in places like Atlanta due to weather.
Agents with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration are expected to work without pay during the ongoing shutdown of the department, which began Feb. 14. Democratic lawmakers have said DHS won’t get funded until new restrictions are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Chris Sununu, president and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade group for U.S. airlines, in a statement urged Congress and the Trump administration to act.
“We are in spring break travel season and expecting record numbers of people to take to the skies. Airlines have done their part to prepare; now Congress and the administration must act with urgency to reach a deal that reopens DHS and ends this shutdown,” he said. “America’s transportation security workforce is too important to be used as political leverage.”
Jessica Andersen Alexie and her two children, 10 and 13, were among the travelers caught in the long lines at Hobby in Houston as they tried to return home to New Orleans. They had been in Houston for the World Baseball Classic.
Alexie said they arrived 3 hours early to find a long line and realized they would not make their flight. While in line, she checked rental cars to see if driving home might be an option but couldn’t find any available. She was able to rebook for a late-night flight and felt relieved to get through the CLEAR security line after about 3 1/2 hours.
When they finally sat down to eat, she decided to take another look at available flights, on the chance that others in line had to cancel and rearrange their plans, and found three seats on a flight that got her family home Sunday afternoon. When they landed at the New Orleans airport, the line extended out to the parking garage, she said.
“It was nuts,” she said. “It was crazy.”