Thanksgiving 2024 air travel: how US airports and states did
· TSA checkpoint screenings and CBP international arrivals · updated · how it is measured
TSA screened 18,080,093 passengers nationwide over the Thanksgiving 2024 travel period (Tue, Nov 26 – Mon, Dec 2, 2024), up 4.6% from 17,282,982 over the same period a year earlier. The busiest day was Sunday, December 1, with 3,088,836 screenings, the most TSA had ever screened in a single day.
Key facts
- Travel period
- TSA screenings
- 18,080,093 (+4.6% YoY)
- Busiest day
- : 3,088,836 (all-time record)
- International arrivals (CBP)
- about 2.1 million (+6.2% YoY)
Day by day, nationwide
| 2024 | Screened | Year earlier | Screened | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,694,504 | 2,647,461 | +1.8% | ||
| 2,726,845 | 2,741,610 | -0.5% | ||
| 1,551,896 | 1,547,419 | +0.3% | ||
| 2,377,911 | 2,199,057 | +8.1% | ||
| 2,811,101 | 2,605,387 | +7.9% | ||
| 3,088,836 | 2,908,785 | +6.2% | ||
| 2,829,000 | 2,633,263 | +7.4% |
Biggest movers
Not enough airports with complete data in both years.
By state
| State | Departing screened | YoY | Busiest airport | Airports |
|---|
By airport
| # | Code | Airport | State | Departing screened | YoY | Intl arrivals |
|---|
Download these tables as CSV (CC BY 4.0) · Markdown version
How it is measured
The Thanksgiving travel period is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through the Monday after (7 days), the period TSA itself reports. It is compared with the same period a year earlier ().
National figures are TSA's published daily checkpoint totals (tsa.gov). Airport and state figures add up TSA's FOIA hourly checkpoint throughput files; they count departing passengers screened, not arrivals or connecting passengers, so they run below airport-reported totals. An airport is included only when TSA's files are complete for it on every day of both periods (0 of 0 reporting airports); nothing is estimated. International arrivals are passengers processed by US Customs and Border Protection at the airports it monitors. Full definitions: methodology.
Cite as: Passenger Index, "Thanksgiving 2024 air travel: how US airports and states did", https://passengerindex.com/web/holidays/thanksgiving-2024/ (CC BY 4.0).
Frequently asked questions
How many people flew over Thanksgiving 2024?
TSA screened 18,080,093 passengers nationwide over the Thanksgiving 2024 travel period (Tue, Nov 26 – Mon, Dec 2, 2024), up 4.6% from 17,282,982 over the same period a year earlier. The busiest day was Sunday, December 1, with 3,088,836 screenings, the most TSA had ever screened in a single day.
How many international travelers arrived in the US over Thanksgiving 2024?
US Customs and Border Protection processed about 2.1 million arriving international passengers at the 45 airports it monitors over the period, up 6.2% year over year.
How does Passenger Index define the Thanksgiving travel period?
As the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through the Monday after (7 days), the period TSA itself reports. The 2024 period ran Tue, Nov 26 – Mon, Dec 2, 2024 and is compared with Tue, Nov 21 – Mon, Nov 27, 2023, the same days relative to the holiday.
When is the Thanksgiving 2025 travel period?
Tue, Nov 25 – Mon, Dec 1, 2025. Passenger Index publishes airport and state results a few days after it ends, once TSA releases the checkpoint data.