The US airports with the longest and shortest security wait times — ranked

Is your mean airport security acquisition a speedy locomotion done the screening area, aliases does the statement often snake astir aggregate stanchions? The reply depends connected wherever you're flying retired of.

At the apical 50 busiest airports successful the US, the mean information statement hold clip is 9.9 minutes, but TSA data shows that passengers tin hold almost 3 times arsenic agelong astatine immoderate airports and arsenic small arsenic a fewer minutes astatine others.

The Trump management is pushing to privatize airdrome security by expanding the TSA's Screening Partnership Program (SPP), which allows airports to usage backstage contractors for screening alternatively of national TSA officers.

The push comes arsenic the agency has faced retention and workplace challenges, exacerbated by government shutdowns successful 2025 and 2026 that forced TSA officers to activity without salary for weeks.

Travel website Travel Bulletin examined the 50 busiest airports successful the US to find the ones pinch the longest and shortest mean hold times. Travel Bulletin analyzed 8 weeks of wait-time estimates from the MyTSA app and passenger-volume information from the FOIA Electronic Reading Room, covering mid-June to mid-August 2026.

Passengers walking done San Francisco and Kansas City — the only 2 awesome SPP airports among the 20 full utilizing backstage screeners — walk among the slightest magnitude of clip successful line.

Here are the 10 airports pinch the shortest mean TSA hold times, followed by the 10 airports pinch the longest mean waits.