Travelers packed Hartsfield-Jackson International on Friday in what was expected to be the peak day for Christmas holiday travel through the Atlanta airport. And though traffic will be a little lighter Saturday, travelers can still expect heavy crowds through the world’s busiest airport.
Some roads, meanwhile, have been busy as Georgians finish their shopping and hit the highways to their holiday destinations.
The Transportation Security Administration geared up for about 87,000 people to pass through airport security checkpoints at Hartsfield-Jackson on Friday, including about 30,000 by around 8 a.m., according to Robert Spinden, TSA’s federal security director in Atlanta.
Jordaan Houston, who lives in Lilburn, arrived at the airport with his wife more than three hours early for a trip to Denver — after hearing from friends about lengthy waits at the airport over the Thanksgiving travel period.
Houston said security screening seemed to be moving quickly on Friday morning, but “We’ve heard about the long lines,” Houston said. “We didn’t want to risk it.”
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Wait times at Atlanta airport security checkpoints ranged from less than 15 minutes to about half an hour early Friday morning, depending on the checkpoint and time.
“We’ve got our checkpoints open early,” Spinden said. The heaviest flow of passengers started at around 6 a.m., he said. Then, “pretty much everything is busy.” Staff at the airport were directing travelers to different checkpoints to balance the volume between the airport’s four security checkpoints in the domestic terminal: Main, South, North and Lower North.
The Atlanta airport completed a construction project to upgrade baggage screening equipment at the main security checkpoint in the domestic terminal earlier this month, reopening several lanes to increase capacity to process passengers.
“I think that has really helped out, giving us four additional lanes,” said Steve Mayers, assistant general manager of customer experience at Hartsfield-Jackson. It’s a key factor responsible for “the difference between Thanksgiving and now,” he said. “Everything is just operating smoothly now.”
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Hartsfield-Jackson is still advising travelers to get to the airport 2.5 hours before their flights, while Delta is advising its customers to get to the airport 3 hours early.
After the morning rush, another period of heavy traffic at the airport started at around 12:30 p.m.
Those who plan to park at the airport should make a reservation in advance, since parking shortages have caused frustrations for some travelers after the closure of the South economy parking lot in October. By midday Friday, the International Park-Ride and North economy lots were full, according to Hartsfield-Jackson’s website.
Other options to get to the airport include MARTA and rideshares such as Uber or Lyft.
Saturday will be busy with about 82,000 people expected through airport security checkpoints in Atlanta, Spinden said. The international terminal will also be busy, particularly with people flying to the Caribbean for the holidays, he said. TSA plans are to add more staff on overtime at the international terminal to screen passengers at the the security checkpoint.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will have smaller crowds, but there will still be a morning rush on those days, according to Spinden.
While standing in a long line to check bags for a flight at the domestic terminal Friday morning, Atlanta resident Kim Swanigan said “This is bad.”
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
She arrived for her flight to Chicago more than two hours early, however, and saw that security wait times were about 20 minutes according to the airport’s website when she checked.
Swanigan said she travels often and has TSA PreCheck and Clear memberships, “so I should be able to navigate a little bit faster.”
Auto club AAA said about 3.6 million people in Georgia are forecast to travel either by road, air or other means during the Christmas and year-end holiday period from Saturday to Jan. 1. It will be the busiest year-end holiday travel season ever for the state, the auto club said.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
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