ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — Travelers who were prepared to pack their patience at BWI Thurgood Marshall airport after days of reported long security lines, found rather a welcome sight Sunday.
WATCH: Calmness after travel chaos at BWI airport
Checkpoint lines remained short and operations were smooth, despite PreCheck line closures.
“I was like, ‘Wow, is this the same airport that I saw yesterday on the TV? It’s completely different,” frequent BWI flyer Jordan Kim said. “I like BWI because it’s less busy compared to other airports nearby.”
But on Saturday, an unrecognizable sight for the airport as one long security line wrapped outside of the terminal, snaking back and forth several rows deep.
High TSA staffing shortages closed checkpoints and combined with the start of spring break for many families, turned into a travel nightmare.
Exemplified by the large pile of luggage left behind near the Southwest check-in counter —"likely" the checked bags of several passengers who missed their flights according to spokesperson Chris Perry. The company only loads luggage onto the aircraft for travelers with scanned boarding passes.
Perry says customers can either claim their bags in the lobby, or they will be sent on a rebooked flight.
“Even when we were planning to come 4 1/2 hours early, people were like: ‘Oh are you sure you don’t want to get there at 12?’” Andrea Taylor said.
Taylor, who typically flies out of Dulles Airport, says her and her family were continuously checking updates throughout the week concerned about what their first experience at BWI would be like. Saturday was especially eye-opening.
“Especially traveling with young kids… it was weighing heavily on our minds,” Taylor said. “How to be entertaining them but still being on time. How to keep them quiet and calm for the potentially 4-5 hours of line, we have no idea.”
They couldn’t drop off their bags just yet. But they tell WMAR-2 News they'd much prefer this wait to an endless security line.
On Saturday, BWI was once again among the top three airports for TSA, with a call out rate of 33.5%.
It’s consistently seen high absences all last week:
Sunday 3/22: 38.1%
Monday 3/23: 30.4%
Tuesday 3/24: 28.1%
Wednesday 3/25: 29.1%
Thursday 3/26: 37.4%
Friday 3/27: 35.6%
Sunday 3/28: 33.5%
Across the country, 2,890 TSA workers called out of work on Saturday. Not quite the high as seen in previous days, but still totaling 10.27% of the workforce.
TSA paychecks on the way
Perhaps some hope on the horizon, TSA reports agents should start getting paid on Monday after President Trump signed an executive order late last week.
This, as both Passover and Easter are fast approaching.
Though the stalemate over DHS funding in Congress continues, with both the House and the Senate entering recess before they could reach a deal.
“We’re not holding up all the money for all of the Department of Homeland Security,” Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen said on ABC This Week. “We have said repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly said we should fund TSA, we should fund FEMA, we should fund the Coast Guard. We are not prepared to give ICE another $10 billion.”
ICE agents continued to be present at BWI on Sunday, after they were deployed the day prior. It’s unclear how long this will continue.
The Maryland Aviation Administration reports that TSA has informed them ICE’s “primary focus is security operations, not immigration enforcement” during their time at the airport.