Our Methodology
How GateWaitTimes Measures Airport Wait Times
GateWaitTimes is an independent service that measures and records US airport security wait times directly from official sources — every ten minutes, around the clock — and keeps a permanent archive of every reading.
How We Measure
Every ten minutes, our collectors query four kinds of official sources. Each reading is stamped with the exact moment it was observed and appended to a permanent archive — nothing is overwritten, smoothed, or backfilled.
- 1
TSA security waits
We record the checkpoint wait figures that airports and the TSA publish for standard and PreCheck lanes.
- 2
FAA airspace status
Ground stops, ground delay programs, and closure advisories that affect when your flight actually leaves.
- 3
National Weather Service
Forecasts for the grid point covering each airfield, because weather drives both airport delays and your drive to the terminal.
- 4
CBP customs data
Official arrival-processing wait times for international airports, as published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
What the Numbers Mean
When an airport page shows a security wait of 25 minutes, that is the most recent figure an official source reported — and the page tells you exactly how many minutes old the reading is, so nothing is ever presented as fresher than it is.
Our when-to-leave guidance blends that live wait with the typical patterns we have recorded for the same airport at that hour and day of the week, giving you a figure grounded in both what is happening now and what usually happens.
Our Data Sources
We measure from the official authorities themselves. Every figure on the site traces back to one of these public sources.
Official checkpoint wait figures for standard and PreCheck lanes, as published by the TSA and participating airports.
tsa.govGround stops, ground delay programs, and closure advisories that shape when your flight actually leaves.
nasstatus.faa.govForecasts for the grid point over each airfield — weather drives both airport delays and your drive to the terminal.
weather.govOfficial arrival-processing wait times for international airports, straight from CBP’s published data.
awt.cbp.govWhere individual airport authorities publish their own official checkpoint feeds, we blend those in too — so you see the most authoritative reading available for each terminal.
The GateWaitTimes Engine
Not every airport publishes a live security feed. Rather than show nothing, our own engine gives you a reasoned estimate for that airport — and we label it, every time, as an estimate, never as a live measurement.
The engine reflects the three factors that most shape how long a U.S. checkpoint line runs: the time of day local to the airport (the biggest driver — early-morning and late-afternoon departure banks are the peaks, while midday and overnight are light); the day of the week (Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday run heavier with business and weekend travel, midweek and Saturday are calmer); and airport size (larger airports sustain longer lines at their peak than smaller regional fields).
An estimate is always shown as a range, carries a distinct “Engine estimate” badge, and in the quiet overnight hours notes that checkpoints may simply be closed. It is a prediction of the typical experience for that time and place — a starting point when no live number exists, not a substitute for one. The moment an airport does publish a live feed, the estimate steps aside and you see the real measurement instead.
Coverage & Freshness
Live where it is published
Wherever an official feed publishes live checkpoint waits, that is what you see. Where a live feed isn’t published, we show the typical pattern for that hour and day — and we always label which is which.
Every figure carries its timestamp
Each reading shows the time it was observed, so you always know how current it is. When a source pauses reporting, we show the age of the last reading rather than presenting it as live.
Customs reflects CBP’s latest data
CBP’s customs feed is historical by design, so customs figures reflect the most recent data CBP has published for that airport — labeled clearly as such.
A fully auditable record
Because we keep every reading, our track record is fully auditable — the archive is a permanent, time-stamped account of what each source reported and when.
Data Usage and License
The wait times, estimates, and related data on GateWaitTimes are provided for personal trip planning. They are offered as is, with no warranty of accuracy or availability, and should never be relied on for safety critical decisions. Always allow a comfortable buffer and follow the guidance of the TSA and your airline.
The data and measurements are the property of GateWaitTimes. You are welcome to reference a reading with a link back to the relevant page. Bulk extraction, scraping, resale, or redistribution of the underlying data is not permitted without written permission. For data access or partnership inquiries, please get in touch.
Independent by design. GateWaitTimes is an independent service, not operated by any government agency or airport. That independence is exactly why we can measure every official source evenhandedly and keep an open, auditable record of what they report.