SAN DIEGO — Spring break travelers flying in and out of San Diego may finally get a break themselves. Transportation Security Administration officers began receiving overdue paychecks Monday, and airport security wait times dropped sharply at major U.S. airports — a relief for the millions of travelers who have endured hours-long lines during the ongoing government shutdown.

At Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, a four-hour checkpoint line shrank to under 10 minutes by Monday morning. Baltimore-Washington and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport also returned to normal wait times. New York's LaGuardia Airport remained an outlier, pushing past two hours Monday morning.

For San Diego International Airport, which serves East County residents from Santee, El Cajon, La Mesa, and across the region, the news is welcome. SAN is among the busiest California airports during spring break and had seen significant disruptions during the partial DHS shutdown.

The TSA's acting assistant secretary confirmed that the delayed paychecks were issued Monday, though the union representing TSA workers said some employees reported incorrect backpay amounts — including missing overtime. The rest of the owed pay is expected by next week.

Immigration officers, deployed to airport terminals under a separate DHS initiative, are expected to remain visible at airports even as TSA operations normalize. The shutdown itself continues, but Trump's emergency order to pay TSA workers directly removed the most acute bottleneck. Travelers heading to the airport this week can expect improved — though not guaranteed — wait times as the system stabilizes.