PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Airports across the country are navigating their busiest days of the year, and Philadelphia International is no different.
The post-Christmas morning rush at PHL has been anything but a rush, with long lines and wait times at baggage check and security. AAA expects this week to be the busiest time for airports, with travel volume estimated to be the highest on record.
About 1.3 million Philadelphians are expected to travel 50 miles or more during the holiday period. Roughly 92,000 Philly-area travelers are flying — a 3.5% increase over last year.
Jen is spending the last days of 2023 in Cabo, Mexico with her big family on a much-needed vacation. Twenty-four hours prior, she had eight people over for Christmas brunch, and 25 people on Christmas Eve.
“I pulled an all-nighter getting ready,” she said.
Of course, when it comes to long travel days, especially those that begin at the airport, expect the unexpected.
“Our day started with our Uber canceling,” said Jen. She and her family made it to the airport in time, though — only to be greeted by long lines of fellow travelers.
“This line has been terrible,” said Grace, who waited at baggage check with her friend Jenny before a flight to Boston.
From Boston, they will fly to Seoul, South Korea, then hop on another flight to Vietnam, where they will visit a friend — 20 hours of flying in all.
AJ is headed to Mexico with his girlfriend and family, the third time he’s making the trip.
“The TSA line looks a lot longer than normal,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s early or people are still working off the Christmas cookies or something like that, they have less people working. Hopefully the TSA line goes through a little quicker.”
Holiday travel volume overall is expected to be the second highest on record, behind 2019.