Current TSA Wait Times

HP's "Today's News" currently leads with a story about unusually long TSA lines at LAS.

HP advises: "Plan on leaving an extra two hours for domestic flights at the busiest times, mostly 6-10 a.m., to get through security, three hours for international flights."

No source for any of the facts alleged in the news blurb is provided.

In contrast, KTNV News reports this afternoon that:

"At Harry Reid International Airport, Monday morning brought wait times of about 20 minutes for department passengers."

And they include a statement by the airport reading:

"Currently, operations are normal at Harry Reid International Airport. The Clark County Department of Aviation is monitoring the situation and communicates with our federal partners that operate here at LAS."

ktnv.com/news/shutdown-strains-tsa-staffing-as-las-vegas-heads-into-spring-break-travel-season

While matters can certainly change, I think HP's blurb as currently posted is unduly alarmist. I don't think there are currently grounds for passengers to add two more pre-departure hours to the two already recommended by TSA.

Obviously, their use of "extra" was in error, as there's no reason to allow four hours, even if it IS busy. However, anyone who is worried they might not get to the airport in time can call the airport for clarification.

Calling that error "alarmist" is kind of silly. HP was trying to advise visitors for what will be one of the historically busiest times. It was a valid and timely warning, albeit somewhat unclearly stated. If you have access to a dictionary, you might discover what "alarmist" actually means.

Considering the state of our federal government these days and who's running it, I think that anyone relying on government functions while traveling should certainly err on the side of caution--even if that's "alarmist." Getting to the airport too early is a minor annoyance; missing your flight is a major inconvenience.

Wrong.

How so, Angry Dan?

😂😛😃😀

I flew this past weekend.  No disruption either way.  Seemed the usual number of TSA.  But both smaller airports. 

I think LVA was quoting exactly what I'd/they'd seen on TV national news reports, featuring a couple of larger airports which now I can't recall.  One showed  passenger lines out into the parking garage.  The anchors or reporters on the ground were saying "...four hours or more before flight time...long delays due to TSA worker shortage...etc."  Whether true or not, maybe incidental complications or true delays or the misstated advice including "extra wait" due to TSA shortage I do not know.

Candy

Well, here's the reality. The best advice any news network, or LVA, or Old Man in the Coffee Shop could offer would be "allow extra time.' How much would be fluid and depend on time of day/week, and would vary from airport to airport.

The wild card, though, is we can't know whether TSA will be functional at all when we get to the airport. The recent history is that when the shutdown started, TSA should not have been affected, as it's an "essential service." But Trump ordered them shut down anyway, as a way to punish the Democrats for "causing the shutdown" due to their insistence on putting cutbs on ICE. His lackeys told him that was against the law, but of course he brushed that off. Then a senior lackey told him that even the base was getting mad, because guess what, red states were being affected, too. So he relented.

But now, everything's in limbo. You book your dream vacation, pay for your ticket, go to the airport, and Trump has a tantrum and orders TSA to quit, or air traffic controllers to go home, or no one can fly who isn't wearing one of those $55 Trump baseball caps, or something. No flights. Too bad, so sad.

And of course, that is the massive uncertainty caused by our nation being led by a loony bird, writ small. I would not depend on ANYTHING federal, down to and including the post office, until he goes away.

And before anyone yeeps about my post being POLITICAL OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD, just let me point out that the "essential services" policy SHOULD ensure that the functionality of TSA is NOT affected by politics, but that's only if the President has any respect for the law. I really do wish that we could absolutely count on the federal government providing its essential services no matter what.