Feature compares security wait times at SPP and TSA-run US airports

Twenty US airports that do not use TSA screeners did not see the long passenger lines reported at some TSA-operated airports, according to a March 21, 2026 CNN report cited in a new feature. Preliminary data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics has since allowed a comparison of security delays at US airports during and after the March 2026 TSA shutdown, the feature states. It was written by Dr Michael Turtz of Florida Atlantic University.

Because passenger screening at those sites was carried out by private contractors working under TSA oversight, airports taking part in the Screening Partnership Program may have been less directly exposed to TSA screening-staffing shortages that month, according to the feature.