New York Travelers Are Paying People to Wait in TSA Lines

According to the NY Post, airports are now doing something that sounds completely backwards—they’re telling travelers to stop showing up so early.

Yeah, the thing we’ve all been trained to do for years? Get there three or four hours ahead of time, grab a bad cup of coffee, and mentally prepare for TSA? Turns out that might actually be making things worse. One airport in Ohio is basically saying relax, you don’t need to camp out. They claim 90 minutes before your flight is plenty for domestic trips, and about two hours for international.

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The logic is simple: when everyone shows up at the same time—especially right when security opens—it creates a bottleneck. Instead of smoothing things out, it turns into a traffic jam of anxious travelers all at once.

But here’s where it gets wild—and where this story hits close to home.

In New York, people aren’t just dealing with long lines… they’re outsourcing them.

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There are now actual services where you can pay someone to stand in TSA line for you. No joke. One company is charging around $25 an hour with a minimum commitment, basically acting as your professional line-holder. You stroll up later, swap in, and skip the misery.

And if you really want to go big? There are individuals offering full-on concierge-style service. We’re talking hundreds—sometimes over a thousand dollars—for someone to travel to an airport and hold your spot. That’s not cutting the line… that’s hiring a stunt double for your travel stress.

All of this is happening while some major airports are still struggling to keep lines moving, with wait times reportedly stretching past two hours in certain cases.

So now we’re in this weird place where airports are saying “don’t come early,” but travelers are so conditioned to expect chaos that they’re literally paying people to deal with it for them.

Only in New York could waiting in line turn into a side hustle.