DSMDes Moines
How long is the TSA security line at DSM?
Des Moines (DSM) publishes no live wait time, so this page carries no number for right now. TSA's counts over 133 days, 22 March to 5 September 2026, put DSM's busiest hour at 4 am, with the counts falling away after 2 pm.
How busy DSM security usually is
People screened per hour at each checkpoint, averaged over 133 days of TSA counts, 22 March to 5 September 2026. Green is that checkpoint's quiet hours, red its peak. Find your checkpoint and look along the row for green.
| Checkpoint | 4a | 6a | 8a | 9 am, now | 10a | 12p | 2p | 4p | 6p | 8p | 10p | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSM Passenger (Alpha) |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days DSM screened passengers from 3 am to 6 pm. Across DSM the busiest hour is 4 am and the counts fall away after 2 pm. DSM Passenger (Alpha) peaks at 4 am. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Questions people ask
How busy is DSM airport today?
Des Moines publishes no live wait time, so there is no number for today. By TSA's counts 9 am is usually a middling hour at DSM, about 310 people an hour across its checkpoints against 560 at the 4 am peak. On a normal day DSM screens about 4,900 people, 86th of the 431 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is DSM Passenger (Alpha).
When is TSA security at DSM quietest?
Over the 133 counted days, 22 March to 5 September 2026, DSM checkpoints screened the most people at 4 am. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 9 am, and they fall away after 2 pm. Each row of the map above is one checkpoint scaled to its own peak, so its green hours are the ones to aim for. Counts say when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long the line is.
What time does TSA open at DSM?
Over the 133 counted days, 22 March to 5 September 2026, DSM screened passengers from 3 am to 6 pm. These are the hours TSA counted people, not DSM's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
Does DSM publish a live TSA wait time?
No. Des Moines publishes no wait time waittimes.io can read, so this page carries no number for right now and never predicts one. The national page ranks the 21 airports that publish a live number.
Does PreCheck have a shorter line at DSM?
DSM publishes no lane-by-lane wait time, so there is no PreCheck number to compare. TSA's counts are per checkpoint and do not separate PreCheck from standard lanes; the map above shows when each checkpoint is loaded, whichever lane you join.
Other airports
Every covered airport, ranked by its line right now, is on the national page, with the airports that publish no live number under it. The busiest airports by people screened lists every code TSA counts.
ATL, BOS, BWI, CLE, CLT, DAL, DCA, DFW, DTW, EWR, IAH, JFK, LGA, MCO, MIA, MSP, PHL, PHX, PIT, SEA, SLC
Where the numbers come from
- Wait times
- Des Moines publishes no wait time waittimes.io can read yet.
- Usual busyness
- TSA's own hourly passenger counts per checkpoint, published weekly in its FOIA reading room. This page uses 133 days of counts, 22 March to 5 September 2026. Public domain.
- Who reads them
- Arcane Digital, which runs waittimes.io, reads every feed every 10 minutes with its own collector and stores the time of each read. The day's reads are checked every night for a feed that has stopped or thinned, and one person reads that report the next morning. Nobody types a number in.
- What we never do
- Predict a wait in minutes, or show an old number as if it were current.
- Every feed
- How each one is read, the TSA counts and who to write to: the sources page.