‘We Were Just Cattle’: TSA Lines Anger Flyers in NY, Houston (1)

Should I get to the airport five hours early? Or will only four hours do?

Those are the sort of questions travelers taking a flight from New York City, Houston and San Juan are asking themselves as a federal funding impasse squeezes airport staffing and stretches security lines.

But flyers are discovering — to their frustration and anger — that they’re playing a guessing game with no correct answer.

Take Jocelyn Chow, a 30-year-old tech worker, who was flying through Houston Tuesday for her vacation in Belize. She woke up at 3 a.m. to get in the security line, which ...