Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials expect to screen 40 million passengers over the holiday travel season until January 2. Some of those people were at the Pittsburgh International Airport Friday morning on what was expected to be one of the busiest days over the next few weeks.
Leonard Hoyle decided to take the red eye out of Charlotte Thursday night to skip the Friday morning rush on what was projected to be a packed day at airports nationwide.
“It’s all about planning. You don’t have any anxiety if you plan ahead,” Hoyle said. “I fly often quite often. I’m retired from the airlines, so I know how this action works.”
While TSA lines at Pittsburgh International Airport were long early on Friday, specifically between 4:30 and 6 a.m., passengers were pleased to see them die down as the morning went on.
“Honestly, it’s kind of crazy. Sometimes, we’ve had to get here at like 3 in the morning just to be able to make it through security in time, but today was really nice because we only had to wake up at like 5:15 to get here,” said Micah Fox of mt. Lebanon, who was flying to Florida with her family.
Airlines expect to have their busiest days December 20 and 22, as well as December 26, 27, and 29. Flight traffic is expected to be light on both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
“It is my least favorite thing having to wait to get through security. It’s just so annoying,” Fox said.
This is the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight, meaning three hours for domestic flights or a six-hour delay for international flights. It comes two years after two million Southwest Airlines flyers were stranded at airports nationwide during the peak of the holiday travel season.
“That seems like a really good deal. I’m glad they put that in place,” Fox said.
“Everyone goes through different circumstances, and for them to be reimbursed for whatever situation they might have is a great idea,” Hoyle said.
Pittsburgh International Airport officials are recommending flyers arrive two hours before their scheduled flights.
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