TSA anticipates record-breaking travel this week

CLEVELAND — According to the Transportation Security Administration, airline travel has never been this busy in the history of United States aviation.

“On Sunday, June 23, TSA broke the record for the most passengers screened in a single day, screening almost 3 million passengers,” said Daniel Narowitz, deputy federal security director for TSA Ohio.

And with airline travel getting busier ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, TSA’s anticipating to screen more than 3 million passengers on Friday. Frequent fliers like Madison Taker can attest to the long lines. 

“I was here two weeks ago, and the line went all the way down like the end of the airport it was nuts today it looks a bit more relaxed maybe because it’s Wednesday, but it’s still a really long line,” Taker said.

But Taker said for the lines being long, they’re going by pretty fast, thanks to new technology that’s being implemented by TSA: the Cat-2 machine. TSA said this is a higher level of security screening for ID’s that match up to the picture of the person standing in front of the officers. 

“It’s using biometrics to match facial features between the two, and it helps us to identify if that is actually the passenger in front of us, it does a better job than our naked eye,’ said Devon Post, a TSA officer.

TSA officers sais this speeds up the process, letting them know who is a standard or a pre-check passenger. 

TSA said their standard wait time for getting in line at the checkpoint to going through security is 30 minutes, but always give yourself extra time and the passenger responsibility starts at home. 

“It starts with the packing, making sure you know what you’re doing, are you checking a bag, are you bringing an item that cannot go in your carry-on,” said Jessica Mayle, regional spokesperson for TSA.

TSA recommends beginning your packing with an empty carry-on, to ensure that you’re not accidentally leaving any prohibited items in your bag, causing a delay when going through security.