Air travelers see low wait times over Thanksgiving

Nearly all passengers traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday waited for less than half an hour in airport security lines, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

{mosads}The Thanksgiving holiday — considered the busiest air travel week of the entire year — saw 16.5 million travelers pass through airport security, a 4.9 percent increase from last year.

Despite the high travel volumes, the TSA said 99 percent of travelers waited in checkpoint lines for less than 30 minutes, while 95 percent waited less than 15 minutes.

In TSA’s expedited PreCheck lanes, which allow pre-vetted passengers to keep their shoes on and their laptops in their bags, 97 percent of travelers waited under five minutes.

“I commend our TSA employees for their hard work over the busy Thanksgiving week,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in statement on Wednesday. “This Holiday season, please thank the men and women of TSA who work hard to keep you safe during air travel.”

The agency came under fire earlier this year when it struggled to manage security lines because the TSA had cut its screening stuff anticipating higher enrollment in the PreCheck program. There was also a major uptick in travel volumes starting in the spring.

After reports surfaced of three-hour wait times, missed flights and stranded passengers, Congress allowed the agency to shift around funding in order to hire new workers and pay for overtime for current screeners.

House and Senate appropriators have both proposed a funding bump for the agency in fiscal 2017 in an effort to ensure the airport security line crisis does not emerge again.

But the House GOP is reportedly pursuing another continuing resolution that would continue current funding levels into next spring, which could cause consternation among the airline industry and travel community.