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TSA wait times right now — and when to leave for the airport

Free · no signup · updated August 2026 · we never invent a wait.

Type a code, city or nickname — “seatac”, “o'hare”, “sky harbor”. Every airport has its own page you can bookmark.

Airports

Live-feed airports first · your recent airports appear at the top

How we tier the numbers

TSA publishes no nationwide wait-time feed, and most airports publish nothing — so any site showing a number for every airport is showing a model. We show only three things, and each says which it is.

Live · airport feed

A reading the airport itself published, read server-side every 3 minutes, shown with the airport's timestamp and our read time. After 20 minutes without an update it becomes “last known”; after 60 it is replaced by the typical range.

Typical · observed

The median-to-75th-percentile of what the airport's own display has shown for that weekday and hour, from an open CC BY 4.0 archive polled about once a minute since April 2026. Shown as a range, with the sample size. Thin weekday cells fall back to all days, and say so.

No number

When we have neither, we say so and show the facts we can verify — checkpoints, PreCheck lanes, reservation programs, FAA delay status — and a leave-by time built from TSA's published arrival guidance.

Sources: each airport's own checkpoint feed (linked on its page); the US Airport Security & Immigration Wait Times (nycwaittimes.com / digitalhen) open dataset (CC BY 4.0); FAA National Airspace System status; TSA PreCheck.

The security wait isn't what changes your plans.

A 20-minute queue is easy to plan around. A departure that is delayed 40 minutes — or a gate that moves to another terminal — is what makes you leave at the wrong time. Otto is an AI travel agent that books your work trips and then watches them, telling you before the gate agent does. Free for your first year.

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Frequently asked questions

Are these TSA wait times real-time?
Where an airport publishes a live checkpoint feed — SEA, SFO, PHX, MSP, DFW, CLT, IAH, HOU, DTW, PHL, PIT, DCA, IAD, and ATL, BOS, JFK T4 and LGA T-C via Delta's republication — yes: we read the airport's own feed every 3 minutes and show it with the airport's timestamp and our read time. Where an airport publishes nothing (ORD, DEN, LAX, EWR and others), no site can show a live number without modeling it — so we don't publish a page for it. Under each live reading we also show the typical range for that weekday and hour, from observed history, so you can tell whether now is busier than usual.
Why don't you show a wait time for every airport?
Because TSA publishes no nationwide feed — its old public API is gone — and most airports publish nothing. Sites that show a number for every airport are showing a model, often a poor one. We only publish pages for airports whose own feed we can read, and we only show two kinds of number: a reading the airport itself published, or a typical range from an open archive of what the airport's own display has shown. Airports that publish nothing get no page rather than a modeled number.
How do you calculate when I should leave?
Drive time + 10 minutes from curb to check-in + 15 minutes at bag drop if you check a bag + the security wait (the high end of the range, or the live reading) + 12 minutes to the gate + 15 minutes at the gate before doors close. Every term is printed so you can adjust it. With no wait data we use TSA's 2-hour domestic / 3-hour international guidance.
How much faster is TSA PreCheck?
TSA's stated goal is that about 99% of PreCheck travelers wait under 10 minutes, and paired airport readings show PreCheck saving anywhere from about 1 minute (SFO, BWI) to 11–14 minutes (EWR, JFK) on average — it depends on the airport and the hour. PreCheck lanes also close outside peak times, which is why we show lane status per checkpoint where the airport publishes it.
What is a free TSA reservation and which airports have one?
Several airports run free virtual-queue appointments for the standard lane: SEA Spot Saver (up to 5 days ahead, Checkpoint 4), MSP RESERVE and MCO Reserve (7 days), PHX RESERVE (6 days), and JFK T4 Reserve (7 days). They reserve a time to enter the line, not a front-of-line pass, and PreCheck benefits do not apply in the reserved lane. 'Reserve powered by CLEAR' no longer exists, and DEN and LAX ended their programs in 2026.
Is this tool free? Do I need to sign up?
Yes, completely free, no account. You only create an Otto account if you choose to have Otto book and watch your next trip — the wait times and leave-by calculator work without it.

All airport pages

ATL TSA wait times · DFW TSA wait times · JFK TSA wait times · SEA TSA wait times · PHX TSA wait times · IAH TSA wait times · LGA TSA wait times · CLT TSA wait times · SFO TSA wait times · BOS TSA wait times · MSP TSA wait times · DTW TSA wait times · PHL TSA wait times · HOU TSA wait times · PIT TSA wait times

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