Fans Flood MSP Airport In Record Numbers As Super Bowl Visitors Head Home
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Bold North is a little less crowded as thousands of people head home after the Super Bowl.
Monday is expected to be a record-breaker at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as the TSA predicts 69,000 people will head through security. That number does include non-Super Bowl related travelers.
.@mspairport is PACKED! Timelapse video of the security lines spanning the entire airport @WCCO #airport #SuperBowl #Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/oAPPaVNuDW
— Mary McGuire (@mcguirereports) February 5, 2018
On a normal Monday, MSP sees about 34,000 people. The previous "busiest day" record was set in March of 2017 when 37,000 passengers were screened.
In order to keep crowds moving, the airport is having some of their employees wear backpacks with large flags on them. Those are designed so that everyone knows what line they are in and stays in the correct one when passing through security.
"We have explosive detection dogs working the checkpoints around passengers," TSA representative Lorie Dankers said. "It's an added layer of security, so everyone around them has no residue. So they have added comfort."
The TSA predicts another busy day Tuesday, but things should be mostly back to normal by Wednesday at the airport.
Meanwhile, an estimated 1,100 private jets have been taking off since Sunday night from several Twin Cities airports -- about one a minute.
Super Bowl fans departing Minnesota said they didn't like our weather, but did love the friendliness.
"We always heard about this 'Minnesota nice,' and it's so true," Eagles fan Greg Lukow said at the airport. "Everyone here is so nice to us, it's amazing."
