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Travelers describe airport chaos as unpaid TSA agents stop showing up: ‘The line is coming from all directions’

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One thing became clear to Jason Urasner as he waited over 90 minutes at a TSA checkpoint on Sunday: He was going to miss his flight.

“It is actual chaos,” Urasner, 40, told Business Insider. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Urasner had arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City that morning to board a JetBlue flight to Salt Lake City, but his plans were derailed by what he called a “complete disaster.”

“There is nobody directing anyone or managing the line. There are a few port authority officers standing around letting people in one by one to the main TSA line, but the line is coming from all directions,” Uranser said. “Most of the people who have actually been waiting in line aren’t even going anywhere.”

Airport workers at JFK’s Terminal 4 used baggage carts to ferry stanchions from one end of the building to the other as they redsigned lines to create more room for passengers to wait. Travelers watched as a digital clock estimating wait times continuously ticked up.

Some passengers used the time to sign up for CLEAR, a paid membership that costs more than $200 a year. It verifies travelers’ identities and allows them to bypass the standard TSA document check.

The potential for long waits and daunting lines is a new reality for travelers at US airports as the partial government shutdown drags on. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, remains unfunded as lawmakers debate immigration enforcement policy. That has left TSA officers unpaid for 5 weeks now. More than 400 TSA officers have quit since mid-February, according to The White House, compounding the ongoing staffing shortage and leading to disruptions at major airports.

On Sunday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said TSA officers can’t make ends meet on $0 paychecks. Their salaries start around $40,000 annually.

“They’re going to take other jobs to put food on the table and pay the rent,” Duffy said on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “I do think it’s going to get much worse, and as it gets worse, I think that puts pressure on Congress to come to a resolution.”

It is not uncommon for travel chaos to motivate lawmakers to find a compromise to fund the government. During the last full government shutdown, an air traffic controller shortage ultimately forced an end to the impasse.

Urasner said he rebooked his flight for a Monday and was advised to arrive at 4 a.m., when TSA opens. Other travelers are facing similar challenges.

Lily Katzman, a senior editor on Business Insider’s Special Projects team, was stuck in a line at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport early Sunday morning.

She joined the line at 6:45 a.m., more than five hours before her flight to Los Angeles.

“When I arrived at the airport, staff ushered everyone to the garage parking lot, where we joined a line that had already snaked twice around the entire first level of the lot. At this point, there was no TSA Pre-Check, and CLEAR was not allowing in-person registrations,” she said.

Katzman said she stood in line for about 90 minutes before being directed to another line.


JFK Airport amid partial government shutdown.

John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday. 

Adam Gray/Getty Images



“After we entered the airport, we learned that we still had to head up an escalator and enter another snaked line to security. We were told once you get inside, it’s up to another two hours on top of the time in the garage.”

New Orleans International on Sunday advised travelers to arrive at least three hours before their flight.

Amid the mounting disruption, President Donald Trump on Saturday said he will send ICE agents to replace TSA officers at airports nationwide. White House Border Czar Tom Homan confirmed the plan on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“We’ll have a plan by the end of today what airports we’re starting with and where we’re sending them,” Homan said.

The president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which includes TSA officers, criticized the decision in a statement on Sunday.

“Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe,” Everett Kelley said. “They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”




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The US shared a new video of its strikes on Iran showing it launching missiles and blowing up targets

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New US video footage shows elements of its strikes on Iran, including the launching of missiles and fighters and the destruction of multiple targets.

The footage shared by US Central Command on Saturday shows destroyers firing missiles at sea and carriers launching combat aircraft. It also shows repeated strikes on Iranian military targets. It said its forces are “delivering an overwhelming and unrelenting blow.”

It did not specify exactly what was hit, or attribute each attack to the US or Israel, which jointly took part in the operation, dubbed Operation Epic Fury on the American side and Roaring Lion on the Israeli side.

It said the operation, which started Saturday morning, involved precision munitions launched from the air, land, and sea, and said it “involves the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation.”

A US official also told Business Insider that the US launched Tomahawk cruise missiles from warships and that ground forces used the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. Other weapons were also employed.

The Israel Defense Forces said that it used around 200 fighters in what it described as “the largest military flyover in the history of the Israeli Air Force,” adding that the jets dropped hundreds of munitions “targeting approximately 500 objectives, including aerial defense systems and missile launchers, in a number of locations in Iran, simultaneously.”

Israel has also released footage showing an attack on missile launchers at a remote site in Iran.

US Central Command said attacks were intended to “dismantle the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, prioritizing locations that posed an imminent threat.” President Trump vowed to destroy Iran’s missile program and other military capabilities and said that the aim was for Iran to “never” have a nuclear weapon. He called on Iranian forces to surrender or face “certain death.”


Grey smoke plume in a blue sky over buildings

: Smoke rises after Iran launched a missile attack in Bahrain.

Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images



CENTCOM said targets included “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.”

Strikes have been reported across Iran, including at military sites and the residence of Iran’s supreme leader. Satellite imagery showed a burning Iranian warship in the aftermath of the initial strikes.

Iranian officials said that at least 85 people were killed at a girls’ elementary school, and the Iranian Red Crescent humanitarian group told the BBC that 201 people had been killed in the country.

After the start of the US and Israeli strikes, Iran launched counterattacks against Israel and against multiple nearby nations, many of which have bases that host US forces and are US allies. Those nations reported many successful interceptions, but also some damage. Details about Iran’s attacks are still emerging, and attacks may continue.

CENTCOM said that its forces had successfully defended against hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks. It said there was damage to US military facilities, but that it was minimal and did not impact operations.

Bahrain said the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, located in the country, was hit by an Iranian missile attack, without giving details on the extent of any damage.

Iran’s strikes also targeted Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan. Some countries reported injuries from falling debris, including Kuwait, which said that three armed forces members had minor injuries from shrapnel from the interception of drones and ballistic missiles. The United Arab Emirates said one person was killed by falling debris in its capital, and four people were injured and taken to the hospital after an incident in a part of the city of Dubai that is known for luxury hotels.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the US and Israeli strikes “wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate.” Iran has vowed further action, and Israel has hinted that its actions so far only represent the beginning of its operation. The US has indicated the same.

Flights have been cancelled across the region, and multiple countries have closed their airspaces, resulting in major disruption for what is one of the world’s busiest flight routes.




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