SEATAC, Wash. — Thousands took to the skies at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday during one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season.
According to officials, 150,000 people were set to pass through the airport, making it the third-busiest day of holiday travel.
“This is going to be a crazy travel day today,” Shane Coakley, a frequent flyer who was headed out on a business trip early Friday morning, said.
Coakley got to the airport three hours early, and still hit a near-disastrous snag: a lack of parking spots.
“This is the first time I was actually considering parking at a hotel and taking an Uber over to the airport,” he said. “It is jam-packed. There is nowhere to park.”
The lack of parking was a common problem.
“We thought we got here with enough time, but all the parking garages are full,” Allison Mattich, who was headed to Disneyland with her family, said. “We did a lot of driving around. Then bag check. We left at three this morning.”
Some managed to dodge that issue by catching a ride with a friend, calling a rideshare, or taking the light rail. That still left another snag: massive lines to get through security.
Airport officials recommend arriving two hours early for a domestic flight and three hours early for an international flight.
“We’ll make it through, we’ll make it through,” Evan Helnore, who was headed to Vegas, said. “I’m not too worried. We got here early.”
Many travelers KIRO 7 spoke with were returning home from a holiday visit, but others were headed out for a post-Christmas trip.
One woman was going to California with plans to avoid the hassles of flying on her return trip; she’ll come back to Seattle by train, not by plane. She expects to save a few hundred dollars, but there is a tradeoff.
“It’s about 40 hours... if there are no delays,” Ada Wright said. “And there is a lot of snow in the mountain passes, so we’ll see what happens on the way back up.”
SEA is offering help to those dropping off or picking up passengers later in the evening. Between 7 p.m. and midnight through December 28, the airport is offering 90 minutes of free parking in the main garage to cut down on traffic.
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