While airports like JFK and Houston are reporting shorter wait times, LaGuardia is still experiencing delays of up to two hours.
Published March 30, 2026
After weeks of long lines at U.S. airport security checkpoints, business is starting to return to normal after President Donald Trump signed an emergency order last week to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees.
Lines at airport security checkpoints across the country have been significantly reduced, with wait times now less than 30 minutes at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and similar hubs such as Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Baltimore’s Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Delays are decreasing at many major airports, but not everywhere. As of 1 p.m. GMT in New York City, LaGuardia Airport’s routes, which primarily serve destinations in the United States, parts of Canada, and the Caribbean, are reaching 90 minutes in Terminal B.
On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin said TSA employees “should start receiving paychecks as early as Monday.” Trump’s move comes after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a Senate-passed bill that would have provided much of the funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DHS confirmed record weekend calls by TSA agents, with calls at 10.59 percent on Saturday and 12.35 percent on Friday. Al Jazeera requested a specific callout number on Monday, but the station did not provide one.
As the partial U.S. government shutdown enters its 45th day, paychecks loom as negotiations in Congress continue to stall.
“At the direction of President Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullin, TSA has immediately begun the process of paying its employees,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Lauren Biss said in a statement to Al Jazeera, adding that TSA employees should begin paying “as soon as today.”
“TSA employees are grateful for the leadership of the President and the Secretary for putting money back into the pockets of TSA employees who were working without pay during the Democratic shutdown of DHS, which forced more than 500 employees to leave TSA and forced thousands to report,” Biss said.
House Republicans voted Friday night to fully fund DHS for 60 days, even though the agency condemned Democrats through official channels, despite Republicans voting against TSA funding measures nine times. The bill, which was supposed to include funding for DHS, was “dead on arrival,” according to a statement from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Even as airport lines have gotten shorter, U.S. airline stocks continue to fall on Wall Street. United Airlines stock was down 2.4% in midday trading, Delta Air Lines was down 1.5%, American Airlines was down 0.4% and low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines was down 1.9%.
