WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration said the Thanksgiving travel week was one of the busiest airline travel days in its 16-year history, and it is touting the speed at which travelers got through security checkpoints.
TSA said Sunday was the busiest day of the holiday week, with more than 2.6 million passengers and airline crew members passing through the screening process, the fifth busiest day since the agency was established.
It also said half of the busiest days on record in the past 16 years have occurred in the past few months.
Most travelers passed through security relatively quickly, considering the holiday crowds, TSA said.
It said nationwide, 98.1 percent of all passengers waited less than 20 minutes in a checkpoint line, and 99.2 percent of passengers in a TSA Precheck lane waited less than 10 minutes.
“Enhanced security screening measures and the use of TSA Canine teams were in place during the busy Thanksgiving travel period to ensure security of air travel,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said.
From Friday, Nov. 17 through Sunday, Nov. 26, TSA screened 21,613,767 passengers and crew members nationwide.
During the Thanksgiving travel week, it screened as many as a half million more passengers per day than usual.
