The TSA is predicting a record Thanksgiving travel season as airports are packed with holiday travelers.
For an update on the rush at Albany International Airport, and for some helpful travel tips, WAMC’s Lucas Willard spoke with airport spokesman Steve Smith...
The Thanksgiving holiday travel period is one of the busiest times, not just here at Albany International Airport, but airports across the nation and across the globe. And here, we're really excited to connect families from the capital region and beyond throughout this week as they start to arrive or depart from Albany airport. You know, speaking with TSA, we get daily reports of the checkpoint and the amount of people who are anticipated to go through the checkpoint based on ticket sales. And right now, we're looking at about 4500 people departing Albany International Airport each day throughout this week. One thing to keep in mind is for the amount of people who are boarding planes. We typically see the same amount of people leaving planes. So, they're coming to Albany airports. So, looking at about 10,000 people per day that are going to be in the airport, if you're traveling this holiday travel period, we just urge you to get to the airport two hours early to give yourself enough time to check your bag, to get through the security checkpoint and make that flight.
For anybody who has not maybe gone through the Thanksgiving travel process or might need a refresher, what does the airport recommend people do to make their experience go a little smoother?
There's a lot of things. First and foremost is get to the airport no less than two hours prior to your departure. You know, a lot of people forget that you're actually boarding the plane 30 minutes before it departs, so you're really only getting here about an hour and a half beforehand. But you want to make sure, especially when there's large crowds, to get here early, so you can get through the checkpoint to get yourself situated and to get on that plane to your destination. The other thing is, we're under construction right now. There are limited lanes in front of the terminal. Some of the vestibules are closed and sidewalk areas are closed due to the terminal expansion project. So, if you can get a ride to the airport, that would be helpful. It would also help you not have to find parking in the parking garages, which are already starting to fill up. So, consider getting a ride to the airport if you're picking up or dropping off passengers. Just remember that there are limited there's limited space in front of the terminal. You need to pick up and drop off quickly. But we can't stress enough just getting here early. You know, for example, between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. there are over a dozen flights going out. So, there's a lot of people in the airport, and sometimes about 1,500 people standing in line to go through the checkpoint. So, you just definitely want to give you enough time, especially during those early morning flights.
For passengers who are being dropped off, or for those who are picking up passengers giving this busy travel period. Is there anything else that folks should know when driving into the airport and maybe, you know, waiting outside the doors there?
Yeah, so if you're picking up, or, we'll start with, dropping off. If you're dropping off a passenger, you're going to just want to drop off near the ticketing area, but you're going to have to do so quickly. Then you'll then you'll exit out the front of the terminal. A little trick too that we've been telling people is that the parking garages both the North garage and the South garage. The first hour of the parking garage is free. So, a little trick to avoid some of the congestion in front of the main terminal is to pull into the south garage, go to the first level, and you can drop off there by the entrance near ticketing, then simply exit at no charge. The same is for the for the North garage. If you want to avoid the terminal altogether, go into one of the parking garages, grab a ticket, drop off your passenger, and then proceed to the exit with that ticket, and there's no charge for the first hour if you're picking up passengers. It's important to understand that no curb side parking is allowed, so you can't sit out in front of the main terminal and wait for that person to arrive and exit baggage claim. What we've been telling people to do is to use the short-term parking areas, use the first level of the parking garage or the observation lot on Albany-Shaker Road is a perfect spot for you to watch airplanes come in, including the plane with your loved one on it, and wait for them to give you a call. When they get to the curb, they'll call you and Glen, you can pick up the passenger and proceed towards the exit.
So, when it comes to the terminal expansion project, how will that, once it's completed, make travel easier for folks coming through the Albany airport?
Gonna, make things easier because you'll be able to exit the parking garage, the north parking garage, it is in step foot, right into a main terminal on the second level, where TSA is, where TSA is currently located, they're actually going to move it towards the North Park garage just a little bit, but there's just going to be so much more space for that queuing. Again, if you remember coming here prior to this project, people would actually line up across the former pedestrian bridge and into the parking garage because there were just so limited space to put passengers who are going through the checkpoint, especially during those early morning hours. So, you're going to have a large queueing area. There's Dunkin Donuts is gonna be there another concession, and it'll just make the travel experience so much quicker and more smooth for that traveler going through TSA, when you get through TSA, because they've moved it back a little bit. There also be more space on the other side for for recomposing, like putting your shoes on your belt and things like that. Then a couple other cool things that are happening with the terminal expansion project is we're going to be enhancing the Business Center, which is located on the air side, over by the southwest and we're going to be putting in a children's play area so the little ones can have some fun while they're in the airport awaiting their flight. And another special thing we're doing is a neurosensory room for those with neurosensory challenges, they'll be able to go there while they're waiting for their flight.
