Pittsburgh airport preps for summer travel surge as covid vaccinations continue

Transportation Security Administration officials expect a surge in air travel this weekend, including at Pittsburgh International Airport, as the long holiday weekend combines with an increased number of vaccinated people itching to travel.

In March, the number of passengers screened each day by TSA agents nationwide began regularly hitting 1 million, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.

Now, data show, about 1.5 million people are passing through U.S. airports daily — more than 10 times the number of people traveling at this time last year as the pandemic took hold around the world.

For perspective, Farbstein said, one day in April 2020 saw 87,000 people fly nationwide. On a typical pre-pandemic day, New York’s John F. Kennedy International alone would see more than 100,000 travelers.

“We’re seeing that return to travel,” she said Tuesday.

For those who are flying over Memorial Day weekend, security checkpoints will be a little different than those they went through pre-pandemic.

Travelers will be allowed to break the 3.4-ounce rule when it comes to hand sanitizer. Passengers can carry a bottle of hand sanitizer up to 12 ounces. People also can bring as many containers of disinfectant wipes as they want.

Larger hand sanitizer bottles will mean a little bit longer time at the checkpoint so agents can make sure it’s actually hand sanitizer.

For other liquids — shampoo, mouthwash and so on — the same rules that were in place before the pandemic still apply.

TSA agents will be wearing masks — still mandated for employees and passengers alike at airports nationwide — and gloves, Farbstein said. Agents will change gloves after every pat-down and every bag search. Acrylic shields will separate agents from travelers at nearly every point in the process — during ID check, when travelers place their carry-on on the conveyor belt, and when they take it off at the other side.

“This is to reduce any opportunities for cross-contamination,” she said. “We’re all about reducing cross-contamination and reducing touch points wherever possible.”

To keep with that effort, Farbstein said, she suggests that when travelers take everything out of their pockets at the checkpoint, they place the items in their carry-on bag rather than directly into the bin. She said this will cut out one more opportunity for germs and viruses to spread.

Farbstein also noted the continued rise in travelers bringing firearms to security checkpoints — despite clear rules and warnings against that.

“The No. 1 excuse we hear from people who are bringing firearms is they forgot they had it with them. More than 80% of the firearms we stop at checkpoints are loaded, so we’re hearing people tell us, ‘I forgot I have a loaded gun with me,’” she said. “’I forgot I have a loaded gun with me’? Really?”

Passengers can bring their guns with them on their travels as long as they are packed correctly.

“There’s a right way to travel with a firearm and a wrong way to travel with a firearm,” Farbstein said. “The wrong way is to bring it to the checkpoint. You don’t want to do that.”

The correct way is to pack the gun, unloaded, in a hard-sided case that is then locked and checked alongside baggage at the check-in counter, she said. If taking ammunition as well, it should be left in its box and packed inside the case.

Pre-pandemic, TSA agents stopped about five guns per 1 million passengers. Since the pandemic began, that has doubled to about 10 per 1 million passengers.

Farbstein said that has held true at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Last week, TSA agents there caught the 12th firearm this year when a Sewickley man brought a loaded 9mm handgun in his carry-on bag.

Prior to the pandemic, the number of guns caught at Pittsburgh checkpoints had been increasing slightly each year: 32 in 2017, 34 in 2018 and 35 in 2019. In 2020, agents caught 21 firearms.