PHOTO COURTESY TSA PHOTOS

Which of the following Thanksgiving fixins’ are you allowed to take on the plane in your carry-on bag?

1. Baked Goods
2. Casseroles
3. Wine in sealed bottles
4. Canned fruit or vegetables
5. Mac ’n’ cheese – cooked in a pan or traveling with the ingredients to cook at your destination.
6. Gravy in a jar

If you chose baked goods, casseroles and the mac ’n’ cheese — you’re right. The wine, canned fruit or veggies and gravy are no-nos.

“If you can spill it, spread it, spray it, pump it or pour it and it’s larger than 3.4 ounces, then it should go in a checked bag,” according to the Transportation Security Administration guidelines.

PHOTO COURTESY TSA PHOTOS

Getting it right is particularly important this coming week as the TSA expects its largest passenger crowd EVER to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday — 18.3 million people, an increase of 6% over this time last year. Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday will be the busiest travel days. Slowing down the security lines with prohibited items will just cause frustrations to mount.

“The 10 busiest travel days in TSA’s history have all occurred in 2024, and we anticipate that trend to continue,”  said TSA Administrator David Pekoske in a statement. “Working alongside our airport and airline partners and the FAA, we have optimized staffing and will do our best to maintain our wait time standards: less than 10 minutes for TSA PreCheck lanes and less than 30 minutes for standard screening lanes.”

Related: Flying This Holiday Season? You’ll Have More Passenger Rights

Pittsburgh International Airport will see its busiest days on Wednesday — when there will be 147 flights with up to 17,927 seats filled, and Sunday — when there will be 156 flights with up to 19,506 seats filled, said Bob Kerlik, PIT spokesman. (If you happen to be booked on a flight on Thanksgiving day, the number of flights will drop by half to 70 or so.)

He reminds travelers that from 4 to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, the TSA PreCheck checkpoint will be at an alternate site on the terminal’s ticketing level to ease crowding and to speed travelers through the security lines.

Also you might want to download the Pittsburgh International Airport app, which tells travelers the estimated wait times for the security lines, how many empty spaces are available in the different parking lots in real time and more.

Here are details on items you can carry through the TSA checkpoint:

• Baked goods: Homemade or store-bought pies, cakes, cookies, brownies and other sweet 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 ‘n’ 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: Apples, pears, pineapple, lemons, limes, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, kiwi.
• Candy
• Spices

Items you must check in your baggage:

• Cranberry sauce: Homemade or canned are spreadable, so check them.
• Gravy: Homemade or in a jar/can.
• Wine, champagne, sparkling apple cider
• Canned fruit or vegetables: It’s got liquid in the can, so check them.
• Preserves, jams and jellies: They are spreadable, so best to check them.
• Maple syrup