The Thanksgiving rush has started at DFW Airport. The airport is expecting 2.9 million passengers through November 28.
The busiest days will be this Sunday, November 19 with 241,000 passengers and the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 26 with 249,000.
"Really, the name of the game is prepare yourself. Plan ahead," says DFW Airport's Heath Montgomery. "Book your parking online. Use our website to find out the capacity of the garages. What is the wait time at TSA when you arrive?"
People can check open spaces at garages, wait times at each TSA checkpoint and expected arrival times for shuttle buses at dfwairport.com or using the DFW Airport app.
Montgomery urges passengers to arrive earlier this time of year than during more routine periods because the line at security might move more slowly.
"For the holidays, you see people who maybe only travel once or twice a year," he says. "These are not the road warriors who are really practiced at the airport experience."
Thursday afternoon, only one checkpoint listed a wait time of more than ten minutes. Times will change constantly as one terminal or set of gates might have more flights than another.
Wait times are listed above each TSA checkpoint for that spot and the next one down. When one started forming a line in Terminal D on Thursday, some passengers said they would walk to the next one where the wait was listed at less than ten minutes.
"I came earlier because it's busier, but I checked the time and it's okay," one man said before a flight to Buenos Aires.
"So far, we're moving pretty quick," a woman flying to Los Angeles said.
Some parts of Florida were dealing with rain Thursday, but there were no large parts of the country dealing with delays and cancellations. Rain is forecast in some parts of the Midwest early next week winter weather is possible in the Northeast next Wednesday.
Airlines urge people to watch their schedule for updates if they are flying to a place where bad weather is possible.
Fort Worth-based American says it started planning for holiday travel in early summer.
"Teams were getting together focusing on prior holiday travel periods. More importantly, how can we look after our customers even more efficiently and better than we have in the past?" says Jim Moses, American Airlines senior vice president of DFW hub operations.
Moses says American started using an analytics tool about 18 months ago to help the airline plan ahead when bad weather is forecast. He says that helped American recover from the winter storm last Christmas faster than other airlines.
"We are very proud of that fact," he says. "There are going to be winter weather events that are outside of the airline's control, but our team is here to help and support our customers. We have technology today we are using to help us navigate through that and help us make good decisions prior to an event."
Moses says the software helps American keep planes and crews together to prevent large-scale disruptions to the schedule.
For American passengers flying around Thanksgiving, Moses urges people who fly infrequently or may be flying with families to arrive early, join the AAdvantage program to earn frequent flier miles and download the American Airlines app.
"We are incredibly proud to not only call DFW home but also that we are operating more flights this year than we did last year," he says. "We are handling a record number of customers and offering more seats than we have in our history at DFW. It's exciting to see so many customers out here traveling. We are ready, our partners are ready."
In May, American Airlines and DFW Airport announced plans for a sixth terminal. American signed a ten-year lease that includes $4.8 billion in capital investments. Those investments include Terminal F, additional gates in Terminals A and C and a renovation of Terminal C.
"We have a phenomenal partnership with DFW Airport," Moses says. "We have been working very diligently with DFW Airport. We look forward to our future. Additional gates for American Airlines, building Terminal F will really solidify the future of American Airlines here in North Texas. This airport is the economic engine for this region, and we're proud to be part of it."
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