by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:50 AM ET, Mon December 2, 2024
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that Sunday, December 1 was the busiest air travel day in the administration’s history, with 3.087 million air travelers screened through security checkpoints nationwide following the busy Thanksgiving holiday season.
The record-breaking total is significantly higher than the same total on December 1 last year, which was 2.32 million travelers. The agency screened 2.17 million on the Sunday after Thanksgiving a year ago.
The Thanksgiving travel period is one of the busiest ever: AAA predicted that 79.9 million Americans would be traveling at least 50 miles from their homes for the holiday.
Before the holiday, the TSA had predicted screening a record 18.3 million people from November 26 through December 2, which is six percent higher than last year. According to the TSA’s data, the week, excluding December 2, saw 15.25 million air travelers. That same period in 2023 saw 12.89 million air travelers; still an increase.
Air travel has been breaking records all year. The last record-breaking TSA screening day was on July 7, 2024, when the TSA screened three million people for the first time in its history.
Some chose to use the high passenger numbers to have their voices heard: service workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport voted to strike during the Thanksgiving period for better pay and working conditions during a week in which the airport was expected to welcome one million air travelers.
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