The government agency tasked with inspecting airline passengers before boarding domestic and international flights warned Thanksgiving travelers to brace for another packed, record-setting holiday travel season this month.
The Transportation Security Administration expects 26.8 million people to pass through airport security checkpoints on their way to board flights between the Friday before Thanksgiving and the Monday after, Nov. 22 to Dec. 2. That is up from 25 million in 2018 and 21 million in 2017.
“We expect record breaking travel volume this 2019 holiday season, following our busiest summer ever,” TSA acting Deputy Administrator Patricia Cogswell said in a news release.
The busiest days across the 440 airports the agency operates at will be Wednesday, Nov. 27 and Sunday, Dec. 1. Between 2.7 million and 2.8 million travelers will pass through airports each of those days — up from the normal 2.1 million per day.
The expected record travel levels come after several years of record-setting holiday and annual screening rates by TSA. The Department of Homeland Security agency screened 771 million passengers in 2017 — 30 million more people than in 2016. In 2018, it processed 813 million people.
Last year, officers also saw the highest number of guns seized at TSA checkpoints and in checked bags. More than 4,200 airline passengers attempted to pass through security at U.S. airports with guns.
The agency said its headquarters are staffing airports appropriately to keep passenger wait times in security lines at a minimum. It is also staffing airports and other transportation hubs nationwide, with K-9s and human personnel to be on the watch for suspicious people or items.
TSA announced last December it was in the process of swapping out pointy-ear dogs for floppy-ear ones in an effort to put more of the public at ease when interacting with its canines.
It employs the second-highest number of dogs of any federal agency. Dogs retire daily from the agency this year due to the force’s aging population, and TSA is using it as an opportunity to grow its floppy-ear population, which are technically classified as sporting or hunting breeds. Around 80% of the 1,200 canines TSA uses nationwide are ones with droopy ears, versus 20% that have cone-shaped ones.
