TSA Agents Unpaid, Demand Passengers Practice Social Distancing Without Masks

KEY POINTS

•The partial U.S. government shutdown, ongoing for nearly a month, has led to many TSA agents skipping work due to lack of pay.
•On March 13, 2026, Austin-Bergstrom Airport warned passengers to arrive up to three hours before flights as lines stretched into parking lots.
•Airports like JFK and Atlanta also reported longer waits, and TSA's MyTSA app may show outdated times because live updates stalled.

As the U.S. partial government shutdown crept past the one-month mark, travelers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport were advised on March 13, 2026, to show up a glorified three hours early if they wanted to breathe secured air before their flight. Thanks to a fabulous batch of unpaid TSA agents, who apparently favor skipping shifts over generating zero-dollar paychecks, security lines stretched deeper than the Houston Hobby weekend horror story yet still fell shy of the infamous three-hour gauntlet there. Ava Brendgord from KXAN News captured these serpentine queues at 5:30 a.m., curving from terminals into parking lots like an uninvited convocation of patience testers. Meanwhile, JFK bruise-waitings rose over 20 minutes; Atlanta, carrying 250,000 fellow travelers weekend warrior squad, joined the 'arrive three hours early' club. The TSA’s “MyTSA” app unquestioningly serves historical wait guesses during the shutdown because, of course, the TSA decided to ghost updating anything in real time. Passengers now can experience suspense 'live' — or at least as live as 15-minute-old data can muster. Spring Break is shaping up as a crash course in endurance, whether you budget zero pay or zero chill.