The Transportation Security Administration set a new record for the largest number of passengers screened in a single day on Nov. 30, 2025.
3,133,924 individuals were screened on Sunday, the last day of Thanksgiving travel.
This record came despite poor weather in several parts of the country and a sudden recall of some Airbus A320 Family aircraft. Given that these events mostly peaked on Saturday, however, the effects were perhaps mitigated by the time Sunday arrived.
Eight of the top 10 busiest days for the TSA now have all happened in 2025:
- Nov. 30, 2025: 3,133,924
- June 22, 2025: 3,096,797
- Dec. 1, 2024: 3,088,836
- July 20, 2025: 3,043,973
- July 6, 2025: 3,041,954
- July 27, 2025: 3,017,861
- Oct. 10, 2025: 3,017,612
- July 7, 2024: 3,013,622
- May 23, 2025: 3,010,183
- July 13, 2025: 3,007,773
As airports increase capacity and airlines grow their network and frequencies, we can only expect these numbers to grow going forward.
American Airlines led the way with scheduled flights during the Thanksgiving travel period with 80,759, and expected Sunday, Nov. 30 to be its busiest day. Monday, Dec. 1 is also expected to be a busy travel day.
The Fort Worth-based carrier had also scheduled a number of extra holiday red-eye flights on several domestic routes, particularly out of Phoenix and Chicago O’Hare. The high number of late-night flights further contributed to the TSA’s record number of screeed individuals.
Featured image by the author.
