TSA App Might Help Foresee Shutdown-Related Security Delays

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If you haven't already done so — we highly recommend downloading the myTSA app.

Since Dec. 22, the partial shutdown of the US government (which has now become the longest in US history) has been taking a toll on airports throughout the country, particularly affecting the employees. Some TSA agents have been calling out sick, while others are working long hours without pay. Either way, in the past three weeks there has been a pattern of delays, terminal closures and enormous lines at security.

Although it's not a solution for avoiding lines (TSA PreCheck and CLEAR might be more effective methods of that), the myTSA app uses a combination of crowdsourcing and history to inform its users on how long it will take to get through security at any designated US airport.

In times like these, the crowdsourcing aspect is crucial to the effectiveness of the myTSA app -- the more recent the updates are, the better. So we asked the TPG Lounge on Facebook to see if anyone had used the app to combat the shutdown, and more importantly, if it was accurate. TPG Lounge member Kevin Sauer used the app at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), which had been suffering from extra long wait-times at security, and said using the app was "quick and easy," and that since it had been updated recently, it was accurate. Other lounge members also reported it was accurate for Honolulu's Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Washington, DC's Reagan National Airport (DCA) and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).

TPG staffer Ethan Steinberg also found the app was pretty much on the nose at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) Tuesday, with wait-times falling between 10-15 minutes both on the app and in person.