Travelers are timing their wait times in the airport as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) struggles with staffing shortages and a partial government shutdown, and the results are shocking.
TikTok user wheresophgoing drew more than 1.3 million views in a day of a video in which she explained that she arrived eight hours early for her flight out of Houston after missing a flight the previous day.
When the creator shared a screencap of her iPhone stopwatch, it showed that her time in line had been two hours and 42 minutes.
“IAH airport is a ZOO! Missed our flight last night because of TSA lines, couldn’t risk it today,” she wrote in the caption of her video.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, TikTok user anniewillis3 timed a wait as well, showing several steps along the way.
“It has been two hours and 24 minutes,” she said, adding, “we missed our flight.”
Willis’ wait time ultimately ended at three hours and 40 minutes.
‘It’s insane’
TikTok commentators were generally blown away by the clips.
“TSA ANNOUNCEMENT: Please arrive 5-10 business days before your flight is scheduled,” one viewer quipped.
Another wit asked, “I have a flight in a month. Should I go to the airport now?”
A fellow traveler shared a similar experience: “I had to fly out of IAH today, my flight was at 4:16, I arrived at 11:30 a.m., finally made it through TSA at 3 p.m., it’s insane. The government needs to pay those people!”
Finally, some pundits said they were exploring other options.
“Someone once told me if you can get to your destination in 10 hours drive time, just drive,” one individual wrote.
“Imagine waiting five hours in line at the airport, you could be halfway to your destination.”
Covering the Lines
Newsweek has covered the airport crisis extensively.
Donald Trump assigned Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents to help fill the staffing gaps, but according to one TSA agent, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who have been assigned to help aren’t helping.
“On a personal level, I don’t think we need them here” Pascual Contreras, a TSA employee in Phoenix, told Reuters.
“We need to be paid.”
In Houston, lines were more than four hours long on Tuesday, despite the presence of ICE agents.
Finally, a former ICE official told Newsweek that Trump’s TSA plan is, “profoundly misguided and reckless.”
TSA officers, “receive specialized, intensive training in passenger screening, threat detection, and the use of advanced equipment training that ICE personnel, despite their excellence in interior enforcement, do not possess,” the official said.
Newsweek has reached out to wheresophgoing and anniewillis3 for comment via TikTok.
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