ORLANDO, Fla. — The rush to get to your Thanksgiving destination is underway across Central Florida, and it’s forecast to be one of the busiest travel days leading up to the holiday.
AAA estimates over 3 million Floridians will travel Wednesday, and Orlando International Airport projected that about 171,000 people would come through there on the day before the holiday.
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Chief Executive Officer Kevin Thibault said travelers should use the airport’s “3-2-1” advice, meaning:
Travelers should arrive at the ticket counter THREE hours before their flights
Travelers should arrive at the TSA checkpoint TWO hours before their flights
And travelers should arrive at the gate ONE hour before their flights take off
“I was expecting a lot until we came around the corner and then I was kind of like, ‘uhh!’ And everybody turned around, but this is not what I was expecting. These are long lines,” said Jasmine Waines, who is traveling with her family to Chicago for Thanksgiving.
Waines said she arrived at MCO around 4:00 a.m. for her flight at 6:00 a.m., making parking reservations ahead of time, so she had one less thing to worry about.
Officials are predicting over 2 million passengers will travel through Orlando International Airport between Nov. 17 and Nov. 28.
That would be a 17% increase in travel compared to this time last year.
“The busiest travel day that we expect here is predicted to be next Saturday, the 25, when we will have close to 187,000 passengers moving through all three terminals,” Thibault said.
To accommodate the crowds, Thibault said all security checkpoints will be fully staffed and additional parking will be available, with at least two new surface parking lots.
By around lunchtime, operations were moving smoothly, and the wait time for TSA was six to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, airport officials urged people picking up friends and family from the airport not to arrive early at curbside. They are advised to wait in the cell-phone waiting lot before heading to the pickup area.
That is because the traffic is not just inside the airport. It’s on the ground level where drivers wait to pick up arriving passengers, too.
“I landed at about 11:45 (a.m.) and got my bag around 12:10 (p.m.). So I would say that’s like 20-30 minutes,” said Howard University track and field athlete Zoe Turner, who flew home for Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, her mother, sister and father Shawn were waiting to pick her up.
“There was more traffic here than at the highway, believe it or not,” Shawn Turner said. “I got stopped here more so than driving on the highway.”
MCO officials often tell travelers to plan ahead, and Zoe said there was a plan for her arrival Wednesday.
“They told me to text them when I landed,” she said. “So I texted them, ‘The plane just landed.’ That’s when they started to be on their way here. Now I’m standing here waiting for them because, obviously, they took off too late.”
So did Zoe’s plane — by 24 hours.
“Actually, we were supposed to be here (Tuesday),” she said. “We were smart enough to book a flight for yesterday (Tuesday), and they canceled it for today (Wednesday).”
But as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.
“Ahhh, there she is!” Shawn said.
It’s been three months since the Turners have all been together. But they’ll now have five days together before Zoe must get back to school for her final exams.
Seeing how busy the airport was Wednesday, she and her father said they will plan accordingly for next week.
“I was expecting the worst, but thank God, it’s here,” Zoe said.