As travel disruptions ripple across the country, the crowd inside Terminal 5 of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York struck a surprisingly calm and steady mood – if a 45-minute security wait can be called steady.
Timing is everything. Travelers who arrived early shuffle forward with patience. Those who didn’t are easy to spot – checking the clock and asking others if they can squeeze ahead.
JFK’s website estimated a 27-minute wait, but in reality it took 45. At Terminal 5, no TSA PreCheck line is in service. Instead, some airlines offered a paid priority line option – JetBlue charges $25 – roughly half the length of the general line.
One frustrated woman confronts a weary TSA employee, asking what’s wrong and is told bluntly, “Because of the government shutdown.”
“That’s such a scam,” she says angrily and marches off.
Eight lines stretch across the terminal. People pass the time comparing flight times. When one traveler says her flight is in 40 minutes, a woman kindly moves aside and lets her cut: “Well, go!” she says.
Off to the side, eight passengers in wheelchairs wait together. It wasn’t clear when they would be brought forward. One elderly gentleman in the group anxiously tells an agent his flight leaves in less than an hour.
A traveler named Roe, heading back to her family in Arizona, grows nervous despite having three hours before departure. She takes no chances and asks a stranger for help paying the priority line fee.
Small moments cut through the stress. A young boy traveling to Palm Beach with his grandmother greets everyone in line, one by one, drawing smiles from travelers who, moments earlier, were visibly tense.
A brief interruption cuts through the monotony of the line – flashing lights and an ambulance wheeling a passenger out on a stretcher. Minutes later, a TSA agent leans into the ear of another and says another passenger needs medical attention.
But the line keeps moving.
