TSA Screened Record Number of Travelers During July Fourth Weekend

The agency said it screened over 11.9 million passengers and crew as well as over 8 million checked bags during the holiday travel period.

• By Haley Samsel
• Jul 12, 2019

The Transportation Security Administration, tasked with screening airplane passengers across the U.S., experienced one of its busiest travel periods ever during this year’s July Fourth weekend, the agency announced Thursday.

On July 7, the TSA screened 2,795,014 passengers and crew nationwide — the highest number ever recorded by the agency, surpassing a record set earlier this year during Memorial Day weekend. From July 3 to July 7, over 11.9 million passengers and crew went through TSA checkpoints, and over 8 million checked bags were examined by agents.

Travelers were originally worried about long security lines during the holiday, particularly after the TSA diverted 350 employees to the southern border to assist Customs and Border Protection agents. But the agency reported that 99.7 percent of passengers waited less than 30 minutes in line.

“The operational success we experienced over the July Fourth holiday weekend is a testament to the combined efforts of our dedicated workforce and industry alliances,” Patricia Cogswell, the acting deputy administrator of the TSA, said in a statement. “What I’m most proud of isn’t just the quantity of passengers and checked bags screened, but the quality of the screening our people provided even with that tremendous volume.”

The agency typically screens about 2.2 million passengers and crew members each day. Each day of the Independence Day travel period, except for July 4 itself, exceeded that average, the TSA said.

Eight of the TSA’s top 10 busiest travel days ever have been recorded this year, according to data provided by the agency. In its release, the TSA said it “expects many more record-breaking periods” this summer and continues to advise passengers to show up two hours before domestic flights and three hours before flying internationally.