Taking the guesswork out of how early you need to be at the airport, United Airlines has added a very helpful feature to its app, in the midst of an ongoing congressional impasse over the funding that keeps TSA operating.

The partial government shutdown that kept TSA employees from being paid for over a month — the second shutdown affecting their pay in the last six months — is still not over. And while the situation at security checkpoints improved somwhat this week after a Trump executive order led to at least partial paychecks going out, and fewer sick calls, security-line wait times at some of the nation's airports remain higher than usual.

United Airlines has rolled out a new app feature — and one that might have been even more helpful two weeks ago — that provides real-time line-standing estimates at airport security at SFO and the airline's six other hubs.

The feature is available under the Travel tab on the app and will be visible on the information page for your upcoming flight. The module provides estimated wait times for both regular TSA and TSA Pre-Check, and shows which checkpoint at a given airport has the shortest line when you arrive.

Photo courtesy of United Airlines

The feature is available at SFO, Chicago O'Hare, Denver, Houston Bush Intercontinental, LAX, Washington Dulles, and Newark airports.

"We appreciate the work and professionalism of our TSA agents, and while most began receiving back pay earlier this week, the US Department of Homeland Security shutdown continues and people want to stay informed about expected security wait times at our airports," said Jason Birnbaum, United's Chief Information Officer, in a statement. "Our customers rely on our mobile app for all their travel needs, and this new feature lets them know what to expect and better plan their trip."

The TSA wait-time feature rolls out today on the United app along with multiple other new features, including Apple AirTag integration for baggage tracking, automated rebooking assistance, and turn-by-turn directions for finding connecting gates.

United is the primary carrier operating at SFO, representing about 50% of all passenger traffic into and out of the airport.

As we learned earlier this week, around 25% of all flights at the airport are likely to experience takeoff and landing delays in the next six months due to a runway repaving project that is closing two of the airport's four runways.