Travelers were reportedly met with shorter security line at airports on Monday, but TSA union members shared concerns for the agency's ability to replenish its workforce
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/baltimore-maryland-airport-tsa-line-033126-337ead7424dd4e5fb3a6cf8fc1d1b1a5.jpg "Travelers pass quickly though security lines at BWI Airport on March 30, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. Airports around the country started recovering from long lines as TSA agents begin to receive their first paychecks after about 61,000 TSA employees had been working without pay since a partial government shutdown started February 14.")
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NEED TO KNOW
- Travelers were met with shorter security lines at many airports on Monday, according to reports
- The crowd reduction comes as some TSA officers report they’ve started to receive their back pay for work completed amid the ongoing partial government shutdown
- TSA union leaders warn the loss of experienced officers who have quit in recent weeks will create long-term challenges for operations and recruitment
Many travelers arriving at airports on Monday were met with shorter security lines as some TSA officers began receiving back pay for work completed during the ongoing partial government shutdown.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston — two of the airports worst hit by shortages and long lines — wait times were under 15 minutes on March 30, The New York Times reports. At John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, wait times reduced to about 40 minutes on Monday afternoon.
The smaller crowds are a stark contrast to the last few weeks, when hours-long wait times were common at TSA facilities across the country.
The partial government shutdown that caused the travel chaos started in mid-February, when Congress failed to pass a funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes TSA.
Since Feb. 14, tens of thousands of federal workers have been required to work without pay. In turn, absences and call out rates have risen dramatically. According to CNN, more than 500 TSA officers have left the agency since the shutdown began.
On Monday, the national call out rate for TSA officers was 8.6%, according to data shared with PEOPLE from a DHS spokesperson. Individual facilities still saw call out rates in the double digits, with Atlanta reporting 28.8% and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston with 23.6%.
The department notes the highest national call out rate was 12.35% on March 27.
Credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty
“We were running out the door to get here,” Lynn Desrosiers, 45, tells The Times of getting to the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland on Monday morning. She and her partner arrived more than four hours early with their two children for a 4:30 p.m. flight to Orlando, Fla.
“Looks like we’re going to spend a lot of money on candy, maybe take a few naps,” she adds.
Credit: Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty
The relief for passengers comes as some federal workers report receiving back pay covering the last several weeks of work.
On Friday, March 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive action directing “funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations” to provide employees with their accrued compensation and benefits. The action did not explicitly state if they would be paid for ongoing work. It also did not mention funding for other DHS agency personnel, including the Coast Guard and FEMA.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, American Federation of Government Employees Council 100 president Hydrick Thomas says union members are “grateful” to receive “some” back pay.
However, he notes that it won’t be enough to address the bills, interest and late fees they have acquired over the last five weeks.“Backpay alone does not fix those problems. And our fellow DHS employees are still not being paid thanks to the dysfunction in Congress,” Thomas says. “To say we are utterly disgusted and disappointed with our elected officials is an understatement.”
Some union members also shared concern for the future of the department.
“The sad part about it is that these officers that we’re losing are going to be very hard to replace,” Darrell English — president of the American Federation of Government Employees’ Local 777 union, representing Chicago-area airports — tells PEOPLE.
He adds: “We’re going to be missing experienced individuals that have left the agency and there’s no one there to replace them that has that level of knowledge at the present time.”
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“Recruitment is going to be another problem for people that want to go down this route, seeing the problems that TSA officers are put through and the hardships that they have to go through with their families just to get a hard day’s pay,” he says.