The 20 US Airports With No TSA Staff and No Long Lines
While travelers at some of America’s busiest airports are queuing for two hours or more just to reach a security checkpoint, passengers at 20 other facilities across the country are walking straight through — and the difference comes down to who is doing the screening.
These airports do not use Transportation Security Administration staff. Instead, they operate under a federal program that allows private contractors to handle passenger and baggage screening. The result, during the current partial government shutdown, has been a stark contrast in the travel experience. Government-employed TSA screeners have gone without pay for over a month as Congress remains deadlocked on funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Private security employees, meanwhile, have continued receiving their paychecks uninterrupted.
How Private Screening Works — And Why It Is Holding Up
The airports participating in this arrangement fall under TSA’s Screening Partnership Program, a framework that permits contracted companies to run security checkpoints in place of federal employees. The list includes major facilities such as San Francisco International, Kansas City International, and Orlando Sanford International, alongside smaller regional airports predominantly concentrated in Montana and other less-trafficked states.
One contractor operating checkpoints in Kansas City and Orlando publicly highlighted the difference in wait times on social media, noting that lines at its locations were running under three minutes. At Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson — two of the country’s most heavily trafficked airports — wait times exceeded two hours this week after more than a third of TSA employees failed to report for duty.
Private contractors have been able to sidestep the shutdown’s most damaging effects simply because their payroll obligations do not depend on congressional appropriations. One security firm operating a checkpoint at a Mississippi regional airport explained that while covering employee salaries during a shutdown creates financial pressure for a small business, the company absorbs the cost and recoups it once the government resumes processing invoices.
Crucially, the shift to private screening does not mean a shift in security standards. All contracted operators fall under full federal oversight and are required to follow the same procedures and protocols as TSA agents. Training requirements are identical. The only meaningful differences are in hiring decisions and compensation structures, which private companies manage independently.
A Solution That Cannot Be Deployed Overnight
For airports currently struggling with TSA absenteeism, the obvious question is whether they could simply switch to private contractors. The answer, in practical terms, is no — at least not quickly.
Transitioning to private screening requires formal TSA approval, a contracting process that can take up to a year, and a further period of several months for the selected company to assume operations. The timeline makes it an entirely impractical emergency measure. Larger airports with established federal workforces are also unlikely to pursue the change, given the administrative complexity involved.
The debate over private versus public airport security is a long-standing one. Contractor advocates point to studies suggesting private screeners outperform their federal counterparts on contraband detection, cost efficiency, and employee retention. Critics, including the union representing TSA workers, argue that contracts awarded to the lowest bidder compromise passenger safety and create the very staffing instability they are supposed to solve.
What is not in dispute is the immediate reality: at 20 airports across the United States right now, the shutdown is simply not a factor.
