Anyone planning to travel to a US city hosting World Cup matches this summer might want to leave now. World Cup travelers could face long waits due to staffing shortages caused by the partial US government shutdown, with the head of US airport security warning of a “perfect storm”. The head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) told Congress on Wednesday that airports across the country are experiencing the “highest wait times in TSA history” as staff absences soared. Ha Nguyen McNeill warned that because it takes four to six months to train transportation security officers (TSOs), any new hires will not be ready to work checkpoints until well after the 2026 World Cup. “We are facing a potential perfect storm of severe staffing shortages and an influx of millions of passengers at our airports for the World Cup games in less than 80 days.”Catching up?

Source: The Guardian March 26, 2026 07:01 UTC