See TSA wait times for major Florida airports on Friday, March 20.
Are you traveling in or out of Florida?
Travelers across the country continue to encounter unusually long airport security lines as a partial federal government shutdown strains the Transportation Security Administration.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) previous funding agreement lapsed on Friday, Feb. 13, as Congress failed to reach a new funding agreement in time. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TSA. Roughly 50,000 TSA officers are continuing to work without regular pay during the funding lapse.
Another contributing factor to long lines is that the partial shutdown is intersecting with spring break. According to USA TODAY, a record-breaking spring travel period is expected, with 171 million passengers expected to fly, up 4% over the same two-month period last year.
“Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) and other Transportation Security Administration (TSA) roles critical to national safety at our nation’s airports are going without pay for the third time in nearly six months,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a release on March 17.
“The undue financial pressure has resulted in increased callouts and agents leaving the force, leading Americans to face at some airports more than three-hour security lines and miss flights.”
Here are the current wait times for TSA at Florida’s major airports, as of 8:30 a.m. Thursday, March 19.
TSA wait times at Orlando International Airport , MCO
MCO’s website lists the following wait times for travelers:
TSA wait times at Miami International Airport, MIA
MIA’s website lists the following wait times for travelers:
TSA wait times at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, FLL
According to Flight Queue, security wait times at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport currently average 16 minutes.
Check-in typically takes 42 minutes, and immigration processing averages 10 minutes. TSA PreCheck lanes average approximately 8 minutes.
All of its terminals are open, as of 4 a.m. To see hours, check here.
TSA wait times at Tampa International Airport, TPA
On its website, TPA features the current message, “While TPA is currently experiencing high passenger volume due to spring break, our TSA security checkpoints are not seeing any significant delays or backups. As always, passengers should arrive 2 hours before a domestic flight and 3 hours for international travel.”
According to Flight Queue, security wait times at Tampa International Airport currently average 5 minutes.
Check-in typically takes 45 minutes, and immigration processing averages 11 minutes. TSA PreCheck lanes average approximately 3 minutes.
TSA wait times at Southwest Florida International Airport, RSW
According to Flight Queue, security wait times at Southwest Florida International Airport currently average 1 minute.
Check-in typically takes 45 minutes, and immigration processing averages 11 minutes. TSA PreCheck lanes average approximately 1 minute.
Missed your airport? Check this list of all Florida airports
Is TSA still operating during the government shutdown?
Yes; however, the roughly 50,000 TSA employees deemed essential have been working without full pay since the funding lapse began on Feb. 14. They did receive a partial paycheck on Friday, March 13.
The Federal Aviation Administration is still fully funded during this partial shutdown.
Is there a way to see current TSA wait times? Find Florida airports’ TSA wait times
Although many airports across the U.S. are seeing hours-long lines at TSA checkpoints, Florida airports haven’t been affected as much as those in other states. And wait times are shorter for travelers with TSA PreCheck and for families or military members using dedicated lines where available.
Need to know when to be at the airport? Here are some ways to monitor TSA lines in real time:
Contributing: Zach Wichter, USA TODAY
Samantha Neely is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, theme parks, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: What are the TSA wait times at MCO, RSW, TPA? See major Florida airports
Reporting by Samantha Neely and Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
