TSA Records Busiest Day Ever During Memorial Day Weekend

Image: PHOTO: Security agent using a metal detector on a man. (photo via EvgeniyShkolenko / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Image: PHOTO: Security agent using a metal detector on a man. (photo via EvgeniyShkolenko / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Donald Wood
by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:35 AM ET, Sat June 1, 2019

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) revealed it experienced its busiest day ever on the Friday before Memorial Day.

The official website of the TSA said security officers working at airports across the United States screened a total 2,792,525 passengers and crew members on May 24, as well as more than 1.5 million checked bags.

Despite the busiest day in recorded TSA history, the agency revealed that 96.1 percent of all passengers waited less than 20 minutes in a checkpoint line. In addition, 91.5 percent of TSA PreCheck passengers waited less than five minutes.

TSA officials said they expect traveler growth of more than four percent this summer, which would result in screening records throughout the summer travel period being broken. On an average day, TSA agents screen approximately 2.2 million passengers and crew.

Earlier this year, security officers discovered there was a record number of firearms inside carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country last year. In total, 4,239 guns were seized in 2018 for an average of nearly 12 per day, a seven percent increase from the 3,957 discovered in 2017.


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Donald Wood

Donald Wood

Managing Editor

Donald Wood is TravelPulse’s Managing Editor, bringing nearly 15 years of experience to the desk. He currently lives outside Philadelphia with his wife and two children.

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