We need to have a very real conversation about what is happening at airports right now because it is a lot and it is directly relevant to anyone with a Disney World trip coming up in the next few weeks.
We are not being dramatic. The security lines are physically extending into parking lots at some airports. Houston's William P. Hobby Airport told passengers on Sunday to arrive four to five hours before their flight. Four to five hours. At an airport. For a domestic flight. If that sentence does not make you want to immediately check your departure time and rethink your morning, we do not know what will.
Here is everything that is happening, why it is happening, and what you actually need to do about it before your trip to Walt Disney World.
So What Is Actually Going On
Three weeks into a partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, airport security wait times across the United States surged dramatically on Sunday. TSA officers are essential federal employees, meaning they are required to keep showing up to work during a shutdown. The catch is that they are doing it without getting paid. And as that situation drags into its fourth week, the staffing pressures it is creating are now showing up in a very visible way at checkpoints across the country.
The numbers from Sunday are genuinely alarming. Houston's William P. Hobby Airport, a major Southwest Airlines hub, saw average TSA wait times approaching three hours. The airport posted on social media telling passengers to arrive four to five hours early. Not as a cautious suggestion. As an actual advisory based on actual conditions.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport both reported average wait times of around one hour. Atlanta had the added complication of recent weather disruptions that had already canceled dozens of flights representing about four percent of the day's full schedule. Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport was at 51 minutes average. Charlotte Douglas International Airport was at 47 minutes.
The official Homeland Security X account posted about the situation and did not mince words. First post: “3 HOUR WAIT TIMES. TSA officers are not the only ones paying the price for the Democrats' DHS shutdown. Now, the American people are facing THREE hour wait times at airports. Democrats do not care about TSA officers going without pay, and they do not care about the millions of Americans missing flights and facing delays because of this reckless DHS shutdown.”
Second post: “HOURS long waits at airports across the country. Security lines all the way in the PARKING LOTS. This chaos is a direct result of Democrats' refusal to fund DHS. Their political stunt is forcing patriotic TSA officers to work without pay — leading to financial hardship, absences, and crippling staffing shortages.”
Third post: “Democrats must end this DHS shutdown NOW. Their political stunt is forcing patriotic TSA officers to work without pay — leading to financial hardship, absences, and crippling staffing shortages. Enough is enough.”
Chris Sununu, CEO of Airlines for America, issued a statement that described exactly what the industry is watching happen in real time: “As TSA officers are facing a $0 paycheck this week, we are seeing firsthand the significant strains that the current DHS shutdown is causing across the aviation system. The shutdown is having very real consequences, and hardworking federal aviation workers, the airline industry and our passengers are being used as a political football once again. This is simply unacceptable.”
What Is Still Working and What Got Shut Down
TSA PreCheck is still running. This is important because on February 22 the Department of Homeland Security reportedly considered shutting the expedited lanes down entirely before reversing course. PreCheck lanes being open right now is the single biggest advantage available to travelers during this disruption and if you have it you should be using it and arriving with time to take full advantage of it.
If you have PreCheck and have not opted into the TSA PreCheck Touchless ID program through your airline, do that before your next trip. It is one of the fastest ways through security at participating airports and in the current environment that difference is not small.
Global Entry is a different story and not a good one. The expedited passport control program run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection is suspended at airports across the country. If you are flying home from an international destination you are going into the standard customs line unless you can access Mobile Passport Control. For Disney guests arriving at Orlando International from international flights, that means more time at customs than you are used to and it needs to be in your arrival day calculation.
Here Is Why This Is Specifically a Disney Problem Right Now
Most vacations have flexibility built into them. Disney vacations do not. Disney vacations have dining reservations made sixty days out. They have park reservations attached to specific dates. They have Lightning Lane selections that disappear if you miss your window. They have resort check-in times and airport shuttle schedules and character breakfast bookings that a three-hour security line does not care about at all.
A guest flying into Orlando the morning of their first park day with a Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party ticket for that evening has essentially zero room to absorb a two-hour security delay at departure. A family with a 10 a.m. park reservation and a noon Be Our Guest lunch booking is not doing either of those things if their 7 a.m. flight out of Atlanta gets missed because the TSA line at departure was backed up into the parking garage.
This is the specific kind of disruption that does not just inconvenience you. It can take an entire first day of a Disney vacation and turn it into a stress spiral that takes the rest of the trip to recover from emotionally and financially.
What You Need to Do Before Your Trip
We are going to be very direct here because the situation calls for it.
First: multiple airports are currently advising passengers to arrive four to five hours before their flights. If your departure airport is one of the affected hubs, that advice is not overcautious. It is based on real checkpoint conditions that have resulted in real missed flights this past weekend.
Second: if your Disney itinerary has you arriving the morning of your first park day, seriously reconsider that. Flying in the day before your first park day eliminates the risk entirely. One extra hotel night, even an off-site one near the airport if needed, is significantly cheaper than the cost of missing a park day with non-refundable tickets.
Third: follow your departure airport on social media and check their accounts the morning you fly. Hobby Airport, ATL, and other affected hubs have been posting real-time wait time updates that give travelers a heads-up before they leave the house. That information is free and takes thirty seconds to find.
Fourth: if you do not have TSA PreCheck, this situation is a fairly compelling argument for getting it sorted before your next trip. Standard lanes are the ones getting backed up. PreCheck lanes are currently open and moving.
The shutdown driving all of this has no clear end date in sight. Plan your travel day as if these conditions are going to be present when your trip arrives, because right now there is no reason to assume otherwise.
Check your airport. Check your flight. Give yourself more time than you think you need. The parks will be there when you land. Getting there on time is the part that needs your attention right now.
