By Liz Moyer and Callum Keown
Spring break travelers are facing an extra dose of frustration as airport security lines snake on for hours and New York's LaGuardia airport was closed Monday after a runway collision.
The wait time at Atlanta's airport was 116 minutes long as early as 3.30 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, according Qsensor, a real-time airport tracking platform. Travelers forced to navigate a wait for security screening that stretched through the baggage claim area, according to social media reports Sunday.
New York's LaGuardia airport was closed early Monday after a collision between a Jazz Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canadaan and a Port Authority vehicle on the runway. The aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident when it was struck, according to a post on the airport's X account.
Passengers at the airport faced long wait times Sunday, before the incident.
A social media post reported "massive" TSA chaos, where the line was two hours long. A video posted on X showed the line stretching the length of the terminal building. Later social media posts said the lines were forming outside on the sidewalk next to the terminal.
At one point on Sunday the lines in all terminals at Houston George Bush International Airport were at least 100 minutes long, according to Qsensor data.
LaGuardia's own social media account said longer than typical lines might happen at security checkpoints "due to staffing impacts from the federal funding lapse." It urged travelers to plan ahead and arrive early.
Newark International Airport security lines were 116 minutes long as of Sunday morning, according to Qsensor.
New Orleans Airport put a statement on social media urging passengers to arrive three hours ahead of their scheduled departures because security wait times could be up to two hours. It also said as of this morning, TSA PreCheck and Priority Screening aren't available, though Clear is available to those who are currently enrolled.
More than 400 workers from the Transportation Security Administration, which runs airport checkpoints, have quit since the government shutdown in February. The shutdown has meant TSA officers are working but not being paid.
Some TSA workers are calling out sick. President Donald Trump has ordered agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to airports starting Monday to aid TSA.
Many have called out sick, resulting in hourslong lines at some airports around the country.
White House border czar Tom Homan told Fox News Sunday that ICE agents would be acting as a force multiplier. "We're going to relieve TSA and augment TSA where we are trained in security and be able to do that."
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told ABC's This Week that President Donald Trump was "looking around every corner" to make sure Americans don't suffer during the shutdown. "If we can bring in other assets and tools to assist TSA to get rid of these lines, yes, I think that makes a lot of sense."
Duffy said ICE agents are trained law enforcement, and "know how to pat people down" and operate x-ray machines.
Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the exclusive union rep of TSA officers, said in a statement on Sunday that ICE agents aren't trained or certified in aviation security, something that TSA officers spend months learning. "Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one," Kelley said.
Duffy warned things may get worse. "If this Homeland Security funding isn't resolved, I think you're going to see more TSA agents, as we come to Thursday, Friday, Saturday of next week, they're going to quit or they're not going to show up," he told the show.
Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Tesla CEO, said on his social media feed that he is offering to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during the funding freeze "that is negatively affecting the Lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country."
Rep. Kevin Kiley, a California lawmaker who recently switched to Independent from Republican, told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday that ICE going to airports is "a very temporary and not ideal solution."
But he acknowledged the challenges facing travelers. "Anything we can do to make travel a little more seamless right now I think is fine."
Some travelers are getting a break. Twenty airports, including San Francisco International Airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport, and Kansas City International Airport, use private security to process travelers through the TSA's Screening Partnership Program. These private contractors run screening operations under federal oversight and must comply with all TSA security screening procedures, the program's website says.
Write to Liz Moyer at liz.moyer@barrons.com and Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2026 04:06 ET (08:06 GMT)
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