The holiday rush is over, everyone is (hopefully) home, and TSA is taking a moment to tell everyone it did a great job getting them there, despite handling record numbers of passengers and bags.
The agency says it screened 42 million passengers over the holiday season, and 30 million checked bags, and posted fairly speedy waiting times for nearly all passengers, despite enhanced screening that started over the summer. According to TSA, 97% of passengers waited 20 minutes or less. with 95.6% of PreCheck passengers spending 5 minutes or less in line.
The holiday season came at the end of a busy year. 2017 contained 9 of the 15 busiest dates in the history of the agency. Although the biggest single days came during the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving travel seasons, the December 15 to January 2 holiday period was the busiest season.
