US Airports Brace For 4 July Travel Rush

With the 4th of July being an important time in their calendar, people across America are all set to travel during the holidays, the airports across the country are preparing to handle the increased passenger numbers and travel demand during this period.

A busy weekend

With the 4th of July being next Thursday, people across the US are looking forward to a nice long weekend as they celebrate US Independence Day, with a significant portion of the population looking forward to traveling. According to the Los Angeles Times, the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is forecasting to screen over 28 million passengers during the course of the next weekend, which is an increase of 5.4% in traffic when compared to 2023.

As such, airports across the country are preparing themselves to handle the massive passenger volumes expected. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is anticipating security screening of around 900,000 passengers throughout the week – July 1st to July 8th.

With such a demand anticipated, the TSA states that the teams across the airports are fully staffed and that they have been preparing for the holiday period for months. It was further stated that the wait times would be 10 minutes or less within TSA PreCheck lanes and half an hour or less under regular TSA lanes.

TSA Administrator, David Pekoske stated,

“We expect this summer to be our busiest ever and summer travel usually peaks over the Independence Day holiday. Compared to last year, we have cut our attrition rates by almost half and increased our recruiting as a result of the TSA Compensation Plan that was funded in the budget passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden.”

Highest numbers

While the coming weekend will definitely be busy, the past two months saw TSA screen record numbers of passengers across the US. Seven spots out of the top 10 busiest days ever recorded by the TSA were in 2024, all of them during the months of May and June. It is clear that the airport security teams will have their work cut out for them this weekend.

The TSA forecasts that July 5th and 7th will be the busiest days of the travel period and expects to screen over 3 million passengers traveling through 434 airports across the country.

Airports such as Ontario International (ONT) have asked domestic passengers to be at the airport two hours before their scheduled departure, while international passengers arrive at the airport three hours before their scheduled departure.

The TSA further states that, although the screening technology available at various airports varies, screening protocols are standardized to ensure maximum passenger safety.

Technological improvements

While passenger screening is an integral part of ensuring passenger safety, technological advancements can allow passengers to have a smoother experience at security checkpoints while allowing airport security to maintain and improve screening quality. With the significant increase in passenger numbers across the US, the TSA has also been investing in technology to ensure smooth and expedited passenger screening.

Photo: Denver International Airport

Earlier this month, CLEAR (Biometric Security Provider in Partnership with TSA) announced it is rolling out 10 new PreCheck Enrollment pods at airports across the US and aims to launch them at more airports and extend its operational hours.

Additionally, airports across the country have increasingly been adopting the TSA’s facial recognition technology to screen non-PreCheck passengers. Operational in 84 airports, the TSA aims to increase the utilization of this technology in up to 430 airports.

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