ST. LOUIS — We are entering one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
More than 53 million people are going to be traveling this weekend and quite a few of them will be taking to the skies.
St. Louis Lambert International Airport has prepared for the surge in travelers. Our 5 On Your Side team kept an eye on things in the terminals Wednesday morning.
We can expect to see numbers that are the closest to pre-pandemic levels we've seen so far.
The busiest days at St. Louis Lambert are expected to be Wednesday, Nov. 24 with 17,391 projected passengers, and Sunday, Nov. 28 when everyone is coming home from their Thanksgiving trips. The airport estimates more than18,000 people will make their way through TSA checkpoints on Sunday. This number does not include passengers coming through the airport on connecting flights.
AAA reports that nationally we'll be within 5% of 2019 levels with air travel almost completely recovering from the historic lows we've seen during the pandemic.
Nationally, this weekend’s travel numbers overall are expected to be up 80% over last year.
St. Louis Lambert airport officials said travelers should be prepared for crowds.
We checked in with Roger Lotz, the public information manager with St. Louis Lambert International Airport. He said people shouldn’t think airports will be easy to get through considering AAA’s report saying traveler numbers overall will be lower than 2019’s numbers.
“They're expecting to see 13-13.5% less than what we saw in 2019. That is a great deal more than what we saw in 2020, much more, so you will see more people here at the airport,” Lotz said.
The advice is to get to the airport two hours early, don't forget to bring your masks and be overly prepared for security.
Travelers are required to remove electronics larger than a cell phone from carry-on luggage. Also, remove foods and liquids from your carry-on luggage, prepare to hold up your boarding pass for review and wear your mask.
On any given day this weekend, more than 15,000 people could be making their way through St. Louis Lambert International Airport.