IADWashington Dulles
When is TSA security busiest at Dulles (IAD)?
TSA's counts over 175 days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, put Dulles's busiest hour at 3 pm, with the counts falling away after 4 pm. Washington Dulles (IAD) publishes a live wait time at flydulles.com; its feed needs a key waittimes.io does not have, so this page carries no number for right now.
How busy Dulles security usually is
People screened per hour at each checkpoint, averaged over 175 days of TSA counts, 22 March to 24 October 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 | 10 am, now | 12p | 2p | 4p | 6p | 8p | 10p | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Mezzanine | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Employee Checkpoint | ||||||||||||||||||||
| FIS Checkpoint | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Passenger Screening Area: PreCheck | ||||||||||||||||||||
| West Mezzanine |
Tap a cell for its count.
Quiet for this checkpointIts busiest hourclosed or no count
On the counted days the first passengers through Dulles were screened at midnight and the last at 9 pm. Across Dulles the busiest hour is 3 pm and the counts fall away after 4 pm. East Mezzanine and Passenger Screening Area: PreCheck screen 67 percent of the people TSA counts at Dulles, East Mezzanine alone 40 percent. Most checkpoints peak from noon on; West Mezzanine runs the other way at 7 am. TSA counts people, not minutes, so this shows when a checkpoint is loaded, not how long you will stand in it.
Checkpoints and terminals at Dulles
What Washington Dulles says on its own site, in our words, with the page each fact comes from and the day we read it. Airports move airlines and lanes, so check the linked page before you fly.
Where the checkpoints are
Dulles has three checkpoints: East, West and a PreCheck checkpoint between them. From flydulles.com, read 15 October 2026.
The airport tells passengers to use whichever checkpoint is more convenient. From flydulles.com, read 15 October 2026.
PreCheck and CLEAR lanes
Besides its own checkpoint, PreCheck runs at the West checkpoint from 6:30 to 8 am and from 3:30 to 5 pm. From flydulles.com, read 15 October 2026.
CLEAR has a lane at the PreCheck checkpoint. From flydulles.com, read 15 October 2026.
Which day Dulles is busiest
Friday is Dulles's busiest day of the week, about 39,000 people screened on an average one, 27 percent more than Tuesday, the quietest.
| Rank | Day | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday | 38,997 | 23 |
| 2 | Thursday | 38,061 | 23 |
| 3 | Sunday | 37,125 | 23 |
| 4 | Monday | 34,643 | 23 |
| 5 | Saturday | 33,726 | 23 |
| 6 | Wednesday | 33,555 | 25 |
| 7 | Tuesday | 30,622 | 23 |
People screened at Dulles on an average day of each kind, from TSA's counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026, with the days around each holiday left out.
Which month Dulles is busiest
July was Dulles's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 41,000 people a day, 27 percent more than April, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 14 percent below July.
| Rank | Month | People a day | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July | 40,747 | 13 |
| 2 | June | 37,517 | 13 |
| 3 | May | 36,588 | 31 |
| 4 | August | 35,748 | 31 |
| 5 | March | 35,730 | 10 |
| 6 | October | 35,061 | 17 |
| 7 | September | 33,751 | 30 |
| 8 | April | 32,192 | 30 |
People screened at Dulles on an average day of each month, holidays included, from TSA's counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026. March, June, July, and October rest on 10, 13, 13, and 17 counted days.
How Dulles ran over the holidays
Each day around a holiday against the same day of the week in the three weeks either side, so the season does not read as the holiday. Thanksgiving and Christmas 2026 are not in TSA's counts yet; they run to 24 October 2026.
Memorial Day 2026
Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Friday 22 May, 47,980 people, 20 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 10 percent below the Sundays around it.
Labor Day 2026
Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Friday 4 September, 41,208 people, 10 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 20 percent below the Sundays around it.
Questions people ask
How busy is Dulles airport today?
Washington Dulles publishes today's live wait at flydulles.com; this page does not carry it. By TSA's counts 10 am is usually a middling hour at Dulles, about 2,000 people an hour across its checkpoints against 3,700 at the 3 pm peak. On a normal day Dulles screens about 35,000 people, 22nd of the 432 airports TSA counts; its largest checkpoint is East Mezzanine, with 40 percent of them.
When is TSA security at Dulles quietest?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, Dulles checkpoints screened the most people at 3 pm. Between the rushes the counts are lowest at 10 am, and they fall away after 4 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 Dulles?
Over the 175 counted days, 22 March to 24 October 2026, the first passengers through Dulles were screened at midnight and the last at 9 pm. East Mezzanine opens first and East Mezzanine and FIS Checkpoint run latest. These are the hours TSA counted people, not Dulles's published checkpoint hours. Check the airport's own page before an early flight.
What is the busiest day of the week at Dulles?
Friday is Dulles's busiest day of the week, about 39,000 people screened on an average one, 27 percent more than Tuesday, the quietest. Averaged over 163 days of TSA counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026, with the days around each holiday left out.
Which month is busiest at Dulles?
July was Dulles's busiest month in TSA's counts, about 41,000 people a day, 27 percent more than April, the quietest. October, the latest month counted, ran 14 percent below July. Averaged over 175 days of TSA counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026. March, June, July, and October rest on 10, 13, 13, and 17 counted days.
How busy does Dulles get on a holiday weekend?
Memorial Day 2026, Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 May: the busiest day was Friday 22 May, 47,980 people, 20 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 24 May was the lightest for its day of the week, 10 percent below the Sundays around it. Labor Day 2026, Thursday 3 to Tuesday 8 September: the busiest day was Friday 4 September, 41,208 people, 10 percent above the Fridays around it. Sunday 6 September was the lightest for its day of the week, 20 percent below the Sundays around it. Each day is set against the same day of the week in the three weeks either side. Thanksgiving and Christmas 2026 are not in TSA's counts yet; they run to 24 October 2026.
Does Dulles publish a live TSA wait time?
Yes, at flydulles.com, the airport's own site. Its feed needs a key waittimes.io does not have, so this page carries no number and never predicts one: flydulles.com is where to look before you leave.
Does PreCheck have a shorter line at Dulles?
This page has no lane-by-lane wait time for Dulles; flydulles.com publishes the airport's own. 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 have no live number here under it. The busiest airports by people screened lists every code TSA counts.
ATL, BOS, BWI, CLE, CLT, DAL, DCA, DFW, DTW, EWR, IAH, JAX, JFK, LGA, MCO, MIA, MSP, PHL, PHX, PIT, SEA, SFO, SLC
Where the numbers come from
- Wait times
- Washington Dulles publishes them at flydulles.com. Its feed needs a key waittimes.io does not have, so waittimes.io does not read the page.
- Usual busyness
- TSA's own hourly passenger counts per checkpoint, published weekly in its FOIA reading room. This page uses 175 days of counts, 22 March to 24 October 2026. Public domain.
- Checkpoints and airlines
- Read once on Washington Dulles's own site and linked beside each fact, with the day it was read. Never from another site.
- 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.