Real-time, crowd-sourced TSA wait times — reported by the people standing in line.
HowBadIsTheLine collects wait-time reports from travelers as they hit security at U.S. airports. Tap a checkpoint, tap how long you waited, done — usually under fifteen seconds. No account, no sign-up, no app to install.
For each checkpoint we average recent reports with a decay weighting (newer reports count more) and drop obvious outliers. The result is an estimate that reflects what people are actually experiencing right now, not yesterday's average or an airport's official figure. Each estimate shows a confidence badge so you know how many recent reports it's based on.
The whole thing only works if travelers contribute. If you check the line before you fly, please leave a report on your way out — the next person in line is grateful.
As accurate as the most recent reports. A "High confidence" estimate means five or more travelers have reported in the last two hours, which is usually within a few minutes of reality. A "Low confidence" badge means a single report — useful as a signal, but treat it as a hint, not a promise. Always leave yourself a buffer.
A small independent project — not affiliated with the TSA or any airport. There's no business model, no ads, and no data sold. It exists because the official wait-time feeds are unreliable and travelers deserve better.
Because reporting needs to take fifteen seconds, not five minutes. The whole value of this site is contributors who tap a few buttons on their way through security — anything that adds friction kills the data. Anonymous reporting is a deliberate design choice, not a missing feature.
Almost none. We don't ask for your name, email, or location. We do briefly track your IP to rate-limit reports and block obvious spam, but we don't store it long-term and we don't link it to anything personal. There are no third-party trackers or analytics.
Submit a fresh report. Newer reports outweigh older ones, so a single accurate report from someone actually in line will pull the estimate toward reality fast. Outliers are filtered automatically, so an honest 45-minute report won't be drowned out by stale 5-minute ones.
Report your wait time every time you fly, especially at smaller airports where data is thin. Tell other travelers. That's it — that's the whole contribution loop.