Flying soon? The United app can now show you TSA wait times

As the shutdown drags on, the airport chaos you’ll be all too aware of is a compound problem when you’re preparing to travel. The long lines are a test of your patience, but more importantly, it’s hard to know exactly how long the wait will be, and whether it’ll mean you’ll miss your flight. United can’t do much to speed up the process, but it is now trying to make it a bit less of a guessing game with a new feature in the mobile app that shows estimated TSA wait times at its US hub airports.

As outlined in a press release, the airline says the new tracker is now rolling out in the Travel section of the United app for passengers flying through its hub airports in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. It shows estimated wait times for different security lanes, including standard screening and TSA PreCheck.

That means you should be able to get a rough idea of what you’re walking into before joining the line, and in some cases, choose the quicker option if there’s more than one lane available. United says the estimates are updated throughout the day, though it also notes that actual wait times may vary from what the app shows.

The timing is hardly random. United was clear that the feature is being introduced amid ongoing uncertainty about the partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which has affected TSA staffing and pay in recent weeks. TSA workers have started receiving back pay, but the wider funding situation still isn’t fully resolved.

This isn’t the sort of update that will make you suffer the airport security process any less, but it could at least make it a bit less of a black box. If it saves you from arriving a bit early and still missing your flight, that’s enough to be useful.