JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you traveled by air for Thanksgiving and thought the airports were crowded, the National Transportation Safety Board said even more of the same is in store for Christmas.
The federal agency is telling travelers to be prepared for higher passenger volumes during the winter holiday travel season as compared to last year.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said the official end-of-year holiday travel period starts on Thursday, Dec. 21, and it will continue into 2024.
“I’m excited I haven’t seen my family in five years, it’s exciting,” St. Augustine resident Diana Myers said.
Myers told News4JAX that her flight to Ohio doesn’t leave until Wednesday. However, she was at the Jacksonville International Airport Tuesday doing what she calls a “run-through.” She was scoping out the commute, the parking, and airport traffic.
“I don’t want to get lost, I want to know where I’m going ‘cause it’s going to be early in the morning,” Myers said.
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TSA expects a spike in air traffic for at least 12 days.
“I make sure I’m going to the right place, places to park, so you might as well do that. It’s a good idea everyone should do that,” Myers said.
TSA said over the 12-day Thanksgiving holiday period, the record was broken for the most passengers screened in a single day on Nov. 26.
The agency cleared more than 2.9 million passengers for travel at security checkpoints nationwide.
This holiday season, TSA anticipates screening more than 2.5 million passengers daily, a 6% increase from 2022.
“It’s a little different than Thanksgiving because we don’t have defined days for travel,” Jacksonville Aviation Authority Spokesman Greg Willis said.
The increased traffic is expected to start on Thursday and will continue for the following 12 days.
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Willis urges local passengers to arrive at least two hours before their flight departs, saying the airport is also taking measures to ensure there is enough parking.
“If we need it, we’ll open a third economy lot, that will give us several hundred more spaces. We don’t have a hard fast date when that will open, that will open as needed, that’s a $40 flat fee for two weeks of parking,” Willis said.
If you’ve traveled recently, you might have noticed TSA is starting to use facial recognition software to improve their operational efficiency.
So, be prepared to insert your physical ID into what’s called a Credential Authentication Technology machine. They are also rolling out cameras that capture a real-time photo of travelers at the podium and compare that to the travelers’ documents at some of the national airports.