End of Thanksgiving travel causing headache at airports

The tail-end of Thanksgiving travel is causing a headache at airports throughout the United States, that includes SeaTac which has a growing number of delays piling up.

According to FlightAware, there have been more than 62 delays in – or out – of SeaTac before 11 a.m.

Among those waiting is Brad Slizeski. He's traveling home after spending Thanksgiving with his daughter, and his grandkids, now he's delayed more than 12 hours.

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"I don't think you can be prepared for this," said Slizeski with a laugh. "You try, but you just tough it out. I tried to get on an earlier flight but they said, ‘No.'"

Slizeski's trouble started in Anchorage where the flight crew wasn't on the ground. By the time he made it to Seattle his flight to Colorado was delayed. Originally he was slated to make it to Denver around 11:30 a.m. Instead, he's now looking at an arrival time close to midnight – all of that before he has to drive home to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

"I've got Netflix on my phone and there's restaurant – that's it for 12 hours!"

The delays are tied to winter weather in some parts of the country, but also sheer volume.

The TSA estimated that 26.8 million people would travel between Nov. 22 and Monday, Dec. 2. That's an increase in overall flyers by 4-percent from last year – which was a record already.

Donna Glasscock told KIRO 7 she drove in with her daughter so they could utilize the HOV lanes to make it to the airport faster. Despite their best planning they still ended up driving longer than the person flying into SeaTac will spend in the air.

"My advice?" said Glasscock, "Leave early and plan to spend at least 20 minutes looking for a parking space!"

Cox Media Group