WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of airline passengers traveling for Thanksgiving this year is expected to rise to pre-pandemic levels, but the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it is ready to deal with the increase.
Administrator David Pekoske said Wednesday that he anticipates the agency’s staffing to be sufficient for what is typically the TSA’s busiest travel period.
“We are ready,” Pekoske said on ABC television’s “Good Morning America.” Travelers should expect long lines at airports and plan more time to go through security, he added.
In 2019, a record 26 million passengers and crew went through airport security searches in the United States in the 11-day period around Thanksgiving. But that number plummeted in 2020 when people stayed home from the pandemic.
Pekoske said he did not believe that a vaccination mandate that goes into effect Monday for TSA agents would have any effect on the staffing for Thanksgiving next week.
“In fact, the implementation of the mandate will make travel safer and healthier for everyone,” he said. “So we’ve seen quite a significant increase in the number of officers that are vaccinated and I feel very confident that there will be no impact by Thanksgiving.”
On Wednesday’s “Today” show on NBC, Pekoske said he remains “very concerned” about the issue of unruly passengers as incidents on planes have continued.
“The level of undisciplined behavior is much higher than what I have seen before,” he said.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it has channeled 37 cases involving unruly airline passengers to the FBI for possible criminal prosecutions since the number of flight disturbances began to rise in January.