Nearly 10% or 2,700 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers across the country called in sick Tuesday, according to TSA data first obtained by ABC News.
Atlanta and New Orleans saw the biggest impacts, the data said, with nearly 40% of officers calling out in each airport. For context, about 2% of TSA officers call out on any given day across the country, the agency said in a report.
Travelers make their way through a security check point as TSA agents talk at Love Field Airport in Dallas, March 16, 2026.
Tony Gutierrez/AP
After the partial government shutdown began for the Department of Homeland Security (which oversees TSA) on Feb. 14, TSA employees initially had their pay reduced as funding dried up. Those employees received their first $0 paycheck of this shutdown last week, and the rate of unscheduled absences and callouts spiked, according to TSA statistics obtained by ABC News.
ABC News has producers at several of the airports that have seen the longest wait times in the past and has not seen any significant issues yet today.
One of the four security checkpoints at Atlanta remained closed on Wednesday due to the staffing shortage. The airport also says it’s expecting more than 350,000 people traveling through the airport from Thursday, March 19, through Sunday, March 22.
The data highlighted call outs for several significant airport TSA on Tuesday:
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK): 30.1%
- Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT): 29.1%
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY): 35.8%
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL): 34.6%
- Houston Hobby Airport (HOU): 40.8%
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH): 28.3%
“The Democrats’ reckless DHS shutdown is causing TSA officers to go without pay for the third time in nearly six months,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “Many TSA officers cannot pay their rent, buy food, or afford to put gas in their cars — forcing them to call out sick from work. Now, Americans are facing HOURS long waits at airports across the country. Democrats must reopen DHS now.”
This is a story in development.
