What to expect at Richmond International Airport if you’re traveling for Thanksgiving
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Richmond International Airport officials are expecting to see almost normal totals of Thanksgiving Day travelers this year, and if you’re planning to be one of them, Transportation Security Administration officials have some advice for you.
“My advice for travelers during that timeframe is to get to the airport two hours before your scheduled flight, wear a mask and come prepared to go through the security screening process,” said Robin “Chuck” Burke, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. “It’s important to know what’s in your carry-on bag and what’s in your checked bag.”
Burke recommended that travelers visit the TSA website for more information about preparing for a flight.
“We expect to see travel numbers approach near pre-pandemic levels and we are prepared to handle the increase in the number of individuals planning to fly during the days leading up to and immediately following Thanksgiving,” Burke said.
Typically, the busiest travel days are the day before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after. The highest travel day in TSA’s history was the Sunday after Thanksgiving of 2019 (pre-pandemic), when nearly 2.9 million people were screened at TSA security checkpoints nationwide. Travel volume this year is not expected to reach pre-pandemic levels, but it is expected to be notably higher than what was seen in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.
Travelers should know what can and cannot go in their carry-on bags before they leave for the airport. If a carry-on bag triggers an alarm, it will require a TSA officer to open the bag to resolve the alarm, meaning that a TSA officer will have to open the bag and go inside to identify what item may have caused the alarm.
“It takes a couple minutes to conduct a bag search if a bag triggers an alarm, that slows down the checkpoint,” Burke explained.
It’s common for passengers to travel with food items that they want to contribute to the Thanksgiving meal. TSA officials advise that if you can spill it, spray it, spread it, pump it or pour it, then it's not a solid and should be packed in a checked bag.
Thanksgiving foods that can be carried through a TSA checkpoint include:
• baked goods (homemade or store-bought pies, cakes, cookies, brownies and other treats);
• meats (turkey, chicken, ham, steak, frozen, cooked or uncooked);
• stuffing (cooked, uncooked, in a box or in a bag);
• casseroles (traditional green beans and onion straws or something more exotic);
• mac and cheese (cooked in a pan or traveling with the ingredients to cook it at your destination);
• fresh vegetables (potatoes, yams, broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, radishes, carrots, squash, greens);
• fresh fruit (including apples, pears, pineapple, lemons, limes, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, bananas);
• candy;
• spices.
Thanksgiving foods that should be carefully packed with your checked baggage include:
• cranberry sauce (homemade or canned);
• gravy (homemade or in a jar/can);
• wine, champagne, sparking apple cider;
• canned fruit or vegetables;
• preserves, jams and jellies;
• maple syrup.
Unsure if an item should be packed in a carry-on bag, checked bag, either or neither? Download the free myTSA app, which has a “What can I bring?” feature that allows you to type in the item to find out if it can fly.
Travelers, TSA personnel and other people who work in the airports are required to continue to wear a mask as prescribed by the federal mask mandate when they are in airports, bus and rail stations, as well as while on passenger aircraft, public transportation, passenger railroads, and over-the-road buses operating on scheduled fixed-routes. This means that all travelers must be wearing a mask at TSA airport screening checkpoints, throughout the airport and during their flights. If a traveler does not have a mask, a TSA officer will offer a mask to that person at the checkpoint.
TSA is currently allowing travelers to bring one liquid hand sanitizer container up to 12 ounces per passenger in carry-on bags until further notice. Passengers can expect that these containers larger than the standard allowance of 3.4 ounces of liquids permitted through a checkpoint will need to be screened separately, which will add some time to their checkpoint experience. Travelers also are permitted to bring individually packaged alcohol or anti-bacterial wipes in carry-on or checked luggage.
To reduce touchpoints, officials recommend that travelers place items from their pockets such as wallets, keys, lip balm, tissues and cell phones into their carry-on bags to be screened instead of putting items from their pockets directly into bins. This minimizes the placing of personal items in a bin that you might hold to your face such as lip balm, tissues and cell phones. It also reduces the chance that travelers will leave something behind in a bin.
Travelers or families of passengers with disabilities and/or medical conditions can call the TSA Cares helpline toll free at 855-787-2227 at least 72 hours prior to flying with any questions about screening policies, procedures and to find out what to expect at the security checkpoint. TSA Cares also arranges assistance at the checkpoint. The TSA Cares phone lines are staffed weekdays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET and on weekends/holidays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. TSA staff can explain the screening process for travelers requiring special accommodations or concerned about the security screening process.
