LaGuardia security lines long, as investigators probe wreckage of Air Canada plane after collision

The security screening line at LaGuardia’s Terminal B Wednesday morning was a giant, sluggish snake.

It stretched half the terminal and doubled back, roughly a quarter-mile long, and an airport official who would not identify himself told a reporter the wait was roughly two hours.

The airport's website no longer reports security wait times for any of its terminals, citing "rapid change based on passenger volumes and TSA staffing" during a weeks-long partial shutdown of federal government that means Transportation Security Administration workers are not getting paid and consequently sometimes not showing up for work. 

"I’m anxious," said Pratik Wanare, 32, an information systems manager who stood near the line’s end and was trying to return home to Canada with his wife and their year-old son. "I don’t know if I will make it to my flight," which was due to leave shortly after 1 p.m., he said.

Not all travelers were dissatisfied.

Trey Sprouse, 30, an insurance inspector from upstate Pawling bound for South Carolina, was less anxious than Wanare, perhaps because he and his wife had arrived at 9:30 a.m. for a 2:40 p.m. flight.

“The line is extremely long but it moved quicker than I anticipated,” he said. “They brought us snacks”: Chex Mix, fruit snacks and water, he said. Sprouse said the wait would have to get considerably worse before he’d be dissuaded from flying. “It still saves time over a 10-hour drive.”

As passengers waited, armed ICE and Homeland Security officers in tactical gear roamed the terminal, sent there by President Donald Trump as TSA agents continued to call out sick.

Earlier, on the runway outside, several people wearing FBI Evidence Response Team jackets stood near the damaged Air Canada jet that crashed with a Port Authority fire truck Sunday night, killing the two pilots. They joined workers in jackets labeled NTSB, for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the collision.

Evidence response teams deploy to "complex crime scenes and catastrophic world events to recover evidence," according to the FBI website. The FBI press office did not respond to a request for comment.

Tuesday night, Air Canada said in a news release that of the 76 passengers and crew aboard the plane, 39 were immediately sent to hospitals with varying degrees of injuries, and 35 did not require immediate medical attention and were able to depart for their final destination. Six people remained hospitalized.

Air Canada and Jazz Aviation were cooperating with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and the NTSB in the crash investigation, the release said.

By midday Wednesday, flights into LaGuardia were delayed by an average of more than four hours, with 193 flight delays and 336 cancellations, according to flight tracker FlightAware. The airport led the service’s “Misery Map” with 56% of inbound flights canceled or delayed and 38% of outbound flights canceled or delayed.

The Associated Press reported that House lawmakers were scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday to discuss the impacts of the funding lapse that has caused TSA agents to go unpaid. U.S. senators are chasing a deal that would fund much of the department, but exclude immigration operations that have been at the core of the dispute.

Acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates, according to prepared remarks she’ll give at the hearing, The AP reported.

At least 458 TSA officers have quit altogether, according to DHS, The AP said.