8 travelers told us how they fared in the great TSA toss-up of 2026

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
TSA security lines at the airports
Snaking TSA lines in some airports, no queues in other — getting through security is a game of chance now.

Michael M. Santiago; RONALDO SCHEMIDT / Getty Images

I missed my flight to Costa Rica after waiting 4 hours at a TSA checkpoint. The line wasn't just long, it felt dangerous.

Tech Insider : Travel, Business
TSA liens at JFK International Airport, May 22, 6AM
Emily Calandriello and her husband spent four hours in the TSA line at JFK International Airport and missed their flight to Costa Rica.

Emily Calandriello

NTSB head says she had to 'beg' to get an Air Canada crash investigator through an hourslong TSA line in Houston

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
MARCH 23: An Air Canada Express plane sits on the tarmac after it collided with a fire truck on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport on March 23, 2026 in New York City. Two people are believed to have been killed in the late-night accident, with dozens injured. The plane had landed from a flight from Montreal

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Thousands of flights across the Midwest have been canceled as a snowstorm sweeps the region

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
A general view shows hundreds of travelers navigating dense queues and crowded terminal walkways at O'Hare International Airport, in Chicago, Illinois, United States, on March 16, 2026.
Thousands of flights across the Midwest were canceled because of a snowstorm.

Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images

A drone strike near Dubai's airport has unleashed a fresh round of travel chaos, with multiple flights being diverted

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
An Emirates Airbus A380 passenger aircraft prepares for landing at Dubai International Airport in Dubai on March 8, 2026.
Flights were diverted from Dubai airport after there was a drone strike near the airport.

AFP via Getty Images

A United 787 engine fire underscores the role of swift pilot actions and the dangers on the ground

Tech Insider : Travel, Business, Style
A United 787 takes off from LAX.
A United Airlines Boeing 787 suffered an engine failure after taking off from Los Angeles (not the aircraft pictured).

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

I flew to Dubai for my 30th birthday. Now I'm stranded 8,000 miles from home and terrified after the US strikes on Iran.

Tech Insider : Travel, Business
Young lady dressed in black, seated and holding a bouquet of white roses.
Shanice Day and her best friend are stuck in Dubai following the strikes in the Middle East.

Shanice Day

Air travel has been thrown into chaos with cancellations, diversions, and airspace closures after strikes on Iran

Tech Insider : Business, Style, Travel
A flight-tracking map shows airplanes avoiding Iran and Iraq following military strikes on 28 February 2026
Iran and the Persian Gulf is home to some of the world's busiest airspace.

Flightradar24

The Iran conflict triggered some of the longest-ever flights to nowhere, with 2 planes returning to their bases after 16 hours

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
An Emirates Airbus A380-800 bound for Dubai departs Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, on February 26, 2026.
An Emirates Airbus A380, like the one that returned to Auckland.

Mike Campbell/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Flight diversion map: See where flights are getting rerouted to in the aftermath of the attacks on Iran

Tech Insider : Business, Style, Travel
A list of canceled flights at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon on February 28, 2026.
A list of canceled flights from the main airport in Beirut, Lebanon, on Saturday.

Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images

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