The increasing passenger volume at Newark Liberty International Airport is manifesting itself in another way for airline passengers — in their favorite place, the security line.
New records were set two days in August for the busiest day at the Transportation Security Administration’s checkpoints at Newark Airport, coming on the heels of Port Authority officials reporting record passenger volumes this year.
Maybe it’s time to make sure your phone is charged and to wear the most comfortable slip-on shoes you own before you fly.
The TSA had its busiest day in history Thursday, Aug. 8, screening 79,467 passengers, a record that barely held for 24 hours. Aug. 9′s record-setting day saw 80,596 passengers and crew members screened at TSA checkpoints, the first time ever the volume of travelers topped 80,000 at airport checkpoints, said Lisa Farbstein, a TSA spokeswoman.
Newark Airport set another, more annoying record in 2018, for the longest security screening wait time in the nation.
The Port Authority’s four major airports, John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and Stewart International, set an all-time record of 68.3 million passengers in the first half of 2019, 2 million more than 2018’s record number. JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia airports handled more passengers in June 2019 than during any other June on record, officials said
That’s reflected in the TSA’s top five busiest days at Newark that all happened this year with records set in April, June and three days in August 2019.
“This increase in passenger traffic is exactly why we remind travelers of the importance of getting to the airport two hours prior to a domestic flight and three hours prior to an international flight,” said Tom Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey. “The passenger volume has increased to record levels, so passengers should allow themselves plenty of time to get to their terminal early to get to their gates.”
That busyness comes at a price. Newark was ranked worst in the nation for waits at security screening check points with an average wait of 23.1 minutes last year in an analysis based on TSA data by Upgraded Points, an airline miles and points advice website. Salt Lake City had the least wait time at 9.1 minutes in 2018.
How long you wait depends on when you travel. The best time to go through TSA checkpoints in Newark would be Fridays from 10 – 11 p.m., which had an average wait time of 15 minutes, the Upgraded Points analysis found. The worst time would be Mondays from 12 – 1 p.m., when security lines waits hit about 60 minutes.
Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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