New Orleans International Airport officials and TSA officers there are getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday rush, and this year they are preparing for even more air travelers than usual.
"We are potentially going to surpass our pre-Covid travel numbers," airport spokesperson Erin Burns said.
According to Burns, one of the reasons why the airport is seeing more traffic is because the airlines are selling more tickets.
"Compared to 2019 in the same Thanksgiving travel period, the number of available airline seats is up about 2.5 percent," Burns said.
Burns says the new airport is built to handle high volumes of travelers flying out of the facility. To that end, TSA spokesperson Gervais Joubert says his agency is doing its part to keep lines flowing through security as quickly as possible. Both say their staffs are ready for the holiday rush.
"We're making sure that we have enough staff available to accommodate the needs and get people in and out," Burns said.
"What we are doing is making sure we have canine officers to expedite screening, and we're bulking up our workforce with overtime employees to keep the line moving smoothly," Joubert said.
Burns and Joubert say you can avoid headaches at the airport by arriving two hours before your flight time, by not bringing prohibited carry-on items into the checkpoint area, and by clearing your pockets and having your ID handy before getting to the checkpoint.
"We also encourage our passengers to prepare before they get to the airport," Joubert said. "When you pack a bag, make sure you start with an empty bag. That way, you're not packing any prohibited items."
