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Flying for Independence Day? Expect a crowd

 
A Transportation Security Administration agent shares a laugh with passengers as they wait to pass through security at Tampa International Airport Airside E terminal in 2016. TIA expects a surge of 548,700 passengers the week of Independence Day, and the airport and the TSA are both recommending that travelers give themselves more time to pass through security. CHRIS URSO  |   Times (2016)
A Transportation Security Administration agent shares a laugh with passengers as they wait to pass through security at Tampa International Airport Airside E terminal in 2016. TIA expects a surge of 548,700 passengers the week of Independence Day, and the airport and the TSA are both recommending that travelers give themselves more time to pass through security. CHRIS URSO | Times (2016)
Published June 29, 2018

If you're traveling this weekend, leave extra time for getting through the airport security line.

The federal Transportation Security Administration projected that Friday would be its busiest day ever, with agents screening more than 2.7 million people.

A spokesman cautioned, however, that the number could fall short of the record if, for example, a thunderstorm shuts down a major airport for several hours.

Friday's official count isn't expected before next week.

A spokeswoman for Tampa International Airport echoed the TSA's advice on giving yourself extra time to get through security.

"That goes for any holiday travel period," TIA spokeswoman Emily Nipps said in an email.

Tampa's airport expects its busiest travel days during the Independence Day travel surge to be Friday and Saturday. (Typically, its busiest single day of the year is around Thanksgiving.) The airport estimates it will see 548,700 passengers for the Independence Day week, compared with 526,600 for the same period last year and 510,600 two years ago. Overall, TIA projects a 4 percent increase in travel this summer.

Tampa International Airport works with the TSA, as well as its concessions and janitorial partners, to make sure it has enough staff to handle influxes of passengers during holiday periods, Nipps said.

The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen more than 28 million passengers and airline crew members between Thursday and July 9.

TSA's single-day record of screening 2.71 million people occurred the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2004. The Friday before the July 4 holiday last year is the third-busiest day on record.

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