by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:05 AM ET, Wed August 30, 2023
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) estimates
that security officers will screen more than 14 million passengers during the
Labor Day holiday weekend between September 1 and 6.
TSA officials projected the busiest day will be September 1,
when agents are expected to screen over 2.7 million travelers. In total, 227.5
million passengers have passed through security checkpoints since Memorial Day
weekend, an average of 2.5 million per day.
The government agency revealed that travel volumes during
the 2023 summer travel period are higher than in 2019, marking the busiest
summer on record.
“We anticipate this Labor Day holiday weekend will be busy,
with passenger volumes nearly 11 percent higher than last year, volumes that
already exceeded 2019 Labor Day holiday travel volumes,” TSA Administrator
David Pekoske said.
“We are prepared for the increase in travel volumes and are
working closely with our airline and airport partners to make sure we are
maintaining our wait time standards of 30 minutes and under for standard
screening lanes, and 10 minutes and under for TSA PreCheck lanes,” Pekoske
continued.
To help ensure a safe and quick trip through American
airports, the TSA shared family-friendly travel tips, including arriving early,
packing empty bags to avoid carrying prohibited items and showing respect to agents
and other frontline airport and airline employees.
Earlier this week, the TSA expanded its PreCheck
expedited screening program to add four new airlines to its list of
participating domestic and international carriers. The new airlines are Cayman
Airways, French bee, Titan Airways and Zipair.
There are currently 90 TSA PreCheck air carriers.
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