TSA screened nearly 26,000 passengers Sunday as security lines spilled outside and travelers faced hours-long waits.
ST. LOUIS, Missouri — St. Louis Lambert International Airport experienced its busiest day on record Sunday in the TSA era as a wave of departing passengers overwhelmed security lines and tested the airport’s capacity following the conclusion of a major religious convention.
According to a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration, TSA officers screened 25,913 passengers on July 13 — officially marking the busiest day in the airport’s history since TSA began screening. TSA screening didn’t occur prior to Sept. 11, 2001.
“On July 13th, St. Louis Lambert International Airport experienced its busiest day ever,” TSA said in a statement. “Aside from normal passenger volume, a large convention ended, and participants showed up in a large wave in the early morning hours. All checkpoint lanes were open and the TSA checkpoint was fully staffed to accommodate the higher passenger volumes.”
Despite the preparation, passengers encountered long waits and congestion at both ticket counters and TSA checkpoints.
Robert Ruiz, a traveler from Puerto Rico who attended the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference and was still stranded on Monday afternoon, said the lines created challenges for many trying to return home.
“It’s a heavy traffic because all people are returning to different countries, so it’s very difficult,” Ruiz said.
The conference, which brought attendees from dozens of countries, concluded Saturday, making Sunday the prime departure window for thousands of delegates. Ruiz estimated that 25,000 people filled the America’s Center Convention Complex during the weeklong event.
Many travelers arrived in the early morning hours, triggering a bottleneck. An airport spokesperson said the situation “was exacerbated by most passengers needing to check bags and few of these passengers being a member of a program designed to expedite airport security, such as TSA PreCheck or CLEAR.”
Southwest Airlines employees privately expressed concern that the airport’s aging baggage conveyor belts could fail under the added strain.
Even those using expedited security services felt the impact.
“So far this is still the longest I’ve seen in the precheck here in St. Louis,” said Melvin Anderson, who was flying home to California. “Usually 5 minutes. Yeah, usually there’s nobody outside this gate area, so you usually go right through.”
Kyle McDowell, a traveler from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, said his experience with TSA PreCheck and CLEAR made a difference.
“Gets me in and out a lot easier and also the CLEAR, same thing,” McDowell said. “But TSA is great. Gets me in and out quick.”
The airport’s 2024 annual report acknowledges ongoing staffing shortages and aging infrastructure, even as officials plan a multi-phase terminal consolidation. The proposed project would combine ticketing, baggage, and security into a centralized facility designed to streamline passenger flow.
The development blueprint includes plans to “centralize the Transportation Security Administration passenger screening areas to a larger primary location in order to provide a smoother screening process the passengers.”
Lambert served nearly 16 million passengers in 2024 — its busiest year in two decades. The long-term vision calls for up to 62 gates and an annual capacity of 21 million passengers, a target not expected to be met until 2040.
As of Monday, it remained unclear whether Southwest Airlines alerted TSA or airport officials in advance of the surge or whether the airport made internal operational adjustments beyond TSA’s staffing plan.
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