WASHINGTON - More than 40 million passengers and crew will be screened by Transportation Security Administration officers during the winter holiday period, one of the busiest times of the year to fly. TSA is expecting anywhere from 100,000 to 400,000 additional travelers at checkpoints nationwide each day.
The end-of-year holiday travel period extends from Dec. 15 through Jan. 2. Thursday (Dec. 21) and Friday (Dec. 22) are expected to be the busiest days of the travel period with more than 2.1 million passengers and crew members passing through TSA security checkpoints each day. Tuesday through Friday after Christmas (Dec. 26 through Dec. 29) and Tuesday after New Year’s Eve also are expected to be busy.
Passengers flying during the holiday travel season should plan to be at the airport two hours prior to a domestic flight and three hours prior to an international flight so that TSA can accommodate the large volume of passengers needing to be screened.
In order to handle the increased passenger volume on peak days during the holiday travel season, TSA will have up to 1,400 additional officers working at the top 50 airports. This will be accomplished through the use of overtime and extending hours for part-time officers.
Passengers flying out of the nation’s busiest airports can expect to see canine teams working at the checkpoints as well. TSA has 55 more canine teams on the job this year compared to 2016’s holiday season. As efforts continue to raise the baseline for aviation security, those canine teams will help increase and expedite screening at more than 30 of the nation’s busiest airports. This increases aviation security by exposing all travelers in the checkpoint lines to the explosives detection dogs.
In addition, new screening procedures for carry-on bags in non-TSA Pre✓® lanes continue to be phased in at all 440 airports nationwide. The procedures have been implemented at over 200 airports so far. This new protocol requires travelers in standard lanes to remove all personal electronics larger than a cell phone from their carry-on bags and place them in bins with nothing above or below them so that TSA officers can get a clear X-ray image of these items (e.g., laptops, tablets, e-readers, cameras). These travelers should continue to follow all other standard screening procedures, such as removing shoes, belts, and liquids from their carry-on bag. Learn what to expect with the new carry-on bag screening procedures.
It is common for passengers to travel with gifts during this holiday travel period. If a wrapped gift triggers an alarm, the gift might need to be unwrapped for TSA officers to resolve the alarm. Instead of wrapping a gift, travelers are encouraged to use a gift bag or gift box so the alarm can be resolved by simply removing the item from the gift bag or gift box without needing to unwrap it. Or, passengers may consider wrapping the gift upon destination arrival.
For other holiday-related travel tips like transporting snow globes, pies, cakes and toys, read our holiday travel blog post. Travelers with questions about transportation security can contact a TSA employee for live assistance 365 days a year. Send questions and comments to @AskTSA via Twitter or Facebook Messenger from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends/holidays.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration
