SEATAC, Wash. — Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is expecting the holiday traffic to ramp up beginning Tuesday ahead of Thanksgiving.
The busiest travel days are expected to be Wednesday and Sunday, said Perry Cooper, spokesperson for The Port of Seattle.
Both days are expected to see around 177,000 people, which is well below the record number of 198,000 travelers set during the summer and the average daily number of travelers during summer.
To make matters more complicated, Cooper said checkpoint five is currently closed for construction.
Families are encouraged to arrive at least two hours before their domestic flights and three hours before their international flights.
“We rather have you be here early and get through security checkpoints and check-ins of your bags before you got plenty of time left than being stuck in one of those lines and gosh, and say, I got to hustle my way in here,” said Cooper.
KIRO 7 News spoke with travelers on Monday who were trying to beat the holiday rush.
“Always avoid the rush, if at all possible. It makes life easier for me. It makes life easier for everybody working here. It’s better for all the way around,” said Jonathan Bidermin, who is traveling to Washington, D.C. for the holiday.
“I came mainly on a Monday because my sister is off that day and I was hoping there wouldn’t be much traffic,” said Amy Cannady, who flew from Atlanta to Seattle to visit her family for Thanksgiving.
However, many people, including Bryce Scharf, are not able to leave early and are forced to travel during the peak travel days.
“I’m a little nervous about it. I already get travel anxiety as it is. I’m going to show up extremely early. I want to say close to four hours before my flight leaves,” he said. “I rather get through TSA, the checkpoint, and then just relax at the gate, get some food, coffee. I don’t care if I spend over an hour there.”
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is expected to have two additional lanes at checkpoints two and three to help with the holiday rush.
The airport is also scheduled to open a new checkpoint near the International Arrivals Terminal during the peak travel days.
“We’ll open that for our peak days to add some additional lanes to get people through security too,” said Cooper.
©2024 Cox Media Group
