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Record summer: TSA's 9 busiest days ever have all come since May

Sept. 06, 2019
2 min read
TSA security check at Denver international airport
Record summer: TSA's 9 busiest days ever have all come since May
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Summer is unofficially over, and the Transportation Security Administration has taken the opportunity to take stock of the travel season that closed out.

The agency said it screened more passengers than ever — 262 million — between the Wednesday before Memorial Day and the Tuesday after Labor Day. It also screened 164 million bags in the same period.

The TSA said that period included nine of the 10 busiest days in its history for screenings.

On July 7, TSA agents screened almost 2.8 million passengers, making it the busiest day in the agency's history.

Related: The Best Credit Cards for Airline Lounge Access

Over the course of the summer, nearly all passengers waited less than 30 minutes in regular screening lines, and less than 10 minutes in PreCheck lines, according to the TSA's statement.

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To make your wait as short as possible, check out TPG's list of all the airlines that offer PreCheck, and advice on the best credit cards for enrollment if you aren't already a member.

The ten busiest days for passenger screening in TSA history are:

  1. July 7, 2019 (2,795,369 passengers screened)
  2. May 24, 2019 (2,792,670)
  3. July 19, 2019 (2,776,960)
  4. June 21, 2019 (2,772,903)
  5. July 8, 2019 (2,748,718)
  6. Aug. 1, 2019 (2,742,882)
  7. July 26, 2019 (2,732,770)
  8. Aug. 2, 2019 (2,730,936)
  9. June 28, 2019 (2,730,515)
  10. Nov. 25, 2018 (2,730,081)

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Featured image by LightRocket via Getty Images