Air travel for the Fourth of July weekend sets new records

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Air travel for the Fourth of July weekend set new records at airports and now the trip home is being complicated by a major storm.

A sea of people flooding Miami International Airport Sunday, leaving the security line stretching across the check in area.

"When I've been here before, it hasn't been this busy. I can't believe the TSA line is 30 minutes, that's wild," said one traveler.

For much of the holiday weekend, air travel was running smoother than last year, with thousands of fewer flight delays and cancellations, but that's changed in Texas.

With Beryl hammering the Gulf Coast, United, American Airlines, and Southwest canceled dozens of flights in Houston and other cities because of the storm.

Ana Lima and her young son said they were leaving Los Angeles Sunday morning for Brazil with a stop in stormy Texas.

"I just found out that there's a hurricane going through Houston, and that's our first stop," Lima expressed.

AAA predicted the busiest Fourth of July ever, with many of the nearly 61 million drivers heading home Sunday, with gas prices the lowest they've been on the July 4th holiday in three years.

Ed Weist and his wife were on their way home to Pennsylvania after vacationing in the Outer Banks.

"I think it's supposed to be a seven-hour drive without traffic, but might be an extra hour with slowdown here and there," Weist shared.

Despite significant delays at major airports across the country Sunday, the TSA says it was the busiest day at checkpoints ever as the agency screening more than three million people for the first time.

Since the start of the summer travel season, the TSA has had nine of its 10 busiest days ever.