The July 4th holiday rush is on. TSA expects to screen a record number of travelers this weekend
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — Nicole Lindsay thought she was the holiday week travel rush by booking an early morning flight. It didn’t work that way.
“I didn’t think it would be that busy, but it was pretty busy,” the Baltimore resident said as she walked her three daughters through Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. “There were a lot of kids on the flight, so it was pretty noisy — a lot of babies crying.”
Lindsay said the flight was full, but her family arrived safely to spend a few days in Port Saint Lucie, so she wasn’t complaining.
Airlines hope the outcome will be just as good for millions of other passengers booking holiday flights in the coming days.
AAA predicts that 70.9 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home in the nine-day period beginning June 27, a 5% increase from the comparable period around Fourth of July last year. Most of those people will be riding, and the motorcycle club says traffic will be worst between 2pm and 7pm most days.
Federal officials expect the air records to fall as Americans convert the date of July 4, which falls on a Thursday, into a four-day (or longer) long weekend.
The Transportation Security Administration predicts that its agents will screen more than 3 million travelers at U.S. airports on Sunday, surpassing the June 23 record of more than 2.99 million. American Airlines said Sunday is expected to be its busiest day of the entire summer, with more than 6,500 flights scheduled.
TSA was created after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and replaced a collection of private security companies hired by airlines. Eight out of 10 busiest days in TSA history took place this year as traveler numbers surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
The agency’s head, David Pekoske, said Wednesday that the TSA has enough screeners to handle the expected crowds this weekend and all summer long.
“We have been thoroughly tested over the last few months to meet our wait time standards of 10 minutes for a PreCheck passenger and 30 minutes for a standard passenger, so we are ready,” Pekoske said on NBC’s “Today” show.
Peggy Grundstrom, a frequent traveler from Massachusetts who flew to Florida to visit her daughter and granddaughter, said the line at security in Hartford, Connecticut, was unusually long.
“It was busier than I’ve ever personally experienced,” Grundstrom said. “But you know, I prefer to fly unless it’s very local. I’m at a stage where I don’t want to travel in a car for extended periods of time.”
Passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to Amsterdam had to put their travel plans on hold for several hours on Wednesday when the plane landed in New York, because spoiled meals were served in the main cabin shortly after take-off.
Delta apologized to passengers “for the inconvenience and delays during their journey.”
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Koenig reported from Dallas.