KCI ready for predicted record-breaking Thanksgiving travel
By Kirsten Stokes
Before travelers get to the dinner table this Thanksgiving, they’ll face what could be the busiest travel period on record.
According to the Transportation Security Administration, agents expect to screen 18.3 million people traveling through airports from Tuesday through Monday, Dec. 2, an increase of approximately 6% from this time in 2023.
Starting his travels in Chicago, flyer Kendall Crilly said he’s experiencing a surprisingly smooth flying experience as he walked through Kansas City International Airport at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
“I see the pictures on the news of all of the problems everywhere else, but as long as the weather held out, everything was fine here,” Chrilly said.
Traveler Gwendolyn Taku is headed to Indiana this holiday season and was leaving KCI Tuesday.
“I believe it’s going to go smoothly, so I’m really not nervous. America has created an opportunity for us to be more thankful and I’m just thankful for my family,” Taku said.
The three busiest travel days are likely to be Tuesday and Wednesday just before Thanksgiving and Sunday after the holiday. According to Justin Meyer, Deputy Director of Aviation at KCI, the airport is working to secure a safe travel experience for all travelers.
“We’ve really worked with our partners to staff up ourselves, so there is additional workforce on the arrival curb and that ensures traffic keeps moving,” Meyer said. “Here at the security checkpoint, we also have additional staff to make sure those lines keep moving as well.”
According to TSA, the average security wait time was 1.9 minutes for passengers with TSA PreCheck and 3.8 minutes for passengers without. The longest wait times were on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with an average of 2.1 minutes for passengers with PreCheck and 5 minutes for those without.
Meyer said a handful of people are missing flights not because of air delays, but due to the increase in infrequent flyers. He advises passengers to bring a valid ID and most importantly arrive two hours ahead of board time to leave time for any unexpected circumstances.
”Certainly we’re encouraging passengers to plan in advance, look at their flight times and make sure everything’s running on schedule,” Meyer said. “We encourage people to downloaded the airlines app, because you’ll get push notifications there before anything else, if there’s any delays or other inconveniences.”
