TSA screens 1.9M people Friday during Memorial day weekend travel
Memorial day travel up 60% from last year; Fox News' Charles Watson reports
Flying at U.S. airports has reached pre-pandemic levels.
Flying at U.S. airports has reached pre-pandemic levels. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images).
Airports screened 1,984,658 people at checkpoints on Sunday, the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest data from the Transportation Security Administration, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein tweeted on June 6.
UNITED AIRLINES OFFERS FLIGHT ATTENDANTS EXTRA VACATION DAYS, PAY FOR PROOF OF VACCINATION
That’s a 350% increase from last year when 441,255 passengers were screened through airports on June 6. And with that comes long lines at check-in and through security amid busy travel times.
"If you’re planning on flying, you need to get to the airport early and be prepared with no prohibited items in your carry-on bag!" Farbstein tweeted.
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Air travel continues to soar with more Americans getting vaccinated against COVID-19. More than 1.65 million people were screened at airports across the U.S. on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend – an increase of 368% compared with 2020 figures when just 352,947 people passed through airports during the pandemic.
To keep up with the influx of traffic, the TSA has hired more than 3,000 employees since January and plans to bring on another 1,000 workers by July 4th with the expectation of having 6,000 new security officers by Labor Day, USA Today reported.