Busy Thanksgiving travel season is underway at Lambert

From Illinois Business Journal news services

ST. LOUIS — Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is seeing a surge in holiday traffic.

The airport typically sees an increase of 15 percent to 20 percent in passenger traffic during the 10-day Thanksgiving air travel period, which extends through Monday, Nov. 30.

The biggest single travel day of the holiday weekend for Lambert is projected to be the Sunday following Thanksgiving (Nov. 29), which typically surpasses 20,000 departing passengers on that day.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, is projected to be the second-busiest day in this travel period. Load factors on both of those days are projected to above 90 percent for most of the airlines operating at Lambert. Many flights will be fully booked.
The two lightest travel days during the week are Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, and Friday, Nov. 27.

Lambert, TSA and airline officials offer a number of travel tips to make it easier for passengers during the busy travel season:

• Arrive two hours ahead of a scheduled flight, especially if checking-in luggage or flying internationally.
• TSA Pre-Check is available at all checkpoints with participating airlines.
• Liquids must be in 3.4 ounce containers or less; put in a quart-size, clear, plastic zip-top bag.
• Do NOT wrap holiday gifts.
• Remember to retrieve all items from the checkpoint after they pass through the security scanners.
• If picking up a passenger from Lambert Airport use one of the free cell phone lots instead of the parking garages.
• For more information on prohibitive items, traveling with children, food and gifts, go to www.tsa.gov.
• Contact your airline for the latest flight information.