With no end in sight to the partial government shutdown, travelers are continuing to face slowdowns and long security checkpoint lines at airports all across the country.WATCH FULL STORY BELOW Flying soon? Experts share tips for navigating TSA delays and long linesNow, experts are sharing their tips for what to keep in mind to make your travel days a little easier.It really doesnt matter where youre flying out of because there is a risk from coast to coast," Katy Nastro, a travel expert with Going.com, said.The flight over here, there was a lot of long lines for security," Ivanna Cavazos, who was flying back to Dallas from Indy on Monday, said.Travelers like Cavazos have seen the impacts firsthand.Its not normal for us to have that many lines," she explained. "So I guess not stressful, just kind of like, 'Oh wow, we need to prepare more.'""You really have to plan out well what the scenario is gonna be," Becky Blaine, Managing Editor of Newsletters with The Points Guy, stated. "Where youre flying and how that airport is affected." Travel experts told WRTV that being ready and preparing ahead of time is one of the best plans.You really need to buffer in at least two to three hours before your boarding time," Nastro said. "And if youre leaving out of one of the airports that's seen the impacts the worst, even more time.My TSA app is not being updated during the shutdown, so there is the airport websites themselves [to look at]you can check their social media profiles too and see if theyre live updating wait times at that point," Blaine added.Also, they said to remember tricks to hopefully avoid some of the longer wait times.Make sure that if you have TSA PreCheck, that it is showing up on your boarding pass, that it is enabled in your profile with your airline," Blaine explained. "Go into that airline profile, and you can enable Touchless ID, that is a new feature from TSA, and it does facial recognition at those TSA checkpoints."If you can make changes to your itinerary where youre leaving mid-week, we actually would advise that," Nastro said. "And even midday, because thats really where we see the least amount of foot traffic through an airport.Finally, they said to try to have a plan B in mind.If you at all feel like you might miss your flight because you get to the airport and it's just seemingly out the door in terms of lines you want to be as proactive as possible and contact the airline directly," Nastro stated.Maybe you need to have a backup flight chosen, whether it's on points or miles or it's refundable, whatever the case may be, make that backup plan," Blaine added. Through it all, remember that compassion is key.Yes, this is a minor inconvenience ahead of your travels in the immediate future, but this is a major life impact for those TSA officers," Nastro said.Just get here early. Be ready at all times," Cavazos said with a laugh.If you're not seeing updates from your local airport, other tracking websites like AirlineAirport.com can give you a better look at current TSA wait times at the airport of your choosing.Casey Zanowic is the In Your Community reporter for North Side Indy. She joined WRTV in July of 2025. Casey has a passion for storytelling and is ready to showcase impactful stories that make a difference in her community. Share your story ideas and important issues with Casey by emailing her at [email protected]. ...read more read less