Albany Airport gears up for Thanksgiving travel

COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — It's Thanksgiving Eve-Eve and Albany International Airport says they're gearing up for an influx of passengers as they do every year. This year, however, they do not expect construction or inclement weather to impact travel plans.  

From near and far, travelers hit the skies to the Capital Region. Take Corina Wood from Kansas, visiting her mom Laurel Irwin in the Catskills.

“Little cramped on the way here but it was okay," said Wood. "You had your legs across three seats I saw the picture!" Irwin joked.

AAA predicts that nearly 80 million Americans like Corinna will be traveling, some of them by planes, trains and mostly automobiles. Let's focus on the planes. Steve Smith from Albany International Airport crunched the local numbers. 

“9,500 to 10,000 passengers passing through our airport each day this week. That's a lot of people!" said Smith.

Four of those passengers are the Morrisons who ironically came in from Albany Georgia. 

“Smooth sailing it's been awesome coming in It was pretty easy getting in and out,” said Trey Morrison alongside his wife and children.

What’s their secret to swift travel?

 “The girls slept in their clothes last night so we didn't have to do a lot of getting ready in the morning,” said Ali Jones. “We just woke up, got in the car, and got to the airport,” she added.

That’s a good move especially if you’re headed to their airport during what Smith says are Albany’s peak hours. 

“Everybody knows that the checkpoint can get very busy when 1500 plus travelers are sometimes trying to pass through the checkpoint, especially during those early morning flights between 4:00 and 7:00 in the morning,” said Smith.

Smith urges passengers to check the TSA website for any restrictions so they don’t get help up checkpoints. One person who knows all about hassle is Sophia Fasslino, back from home college in Tampa. 

"I have a teddy bear that warms up and it has like the heated stuff in it. I've had it since I was little. I know! It's crazy but they always take it in drug test it!" said Fasslino. "Cuz there's like lavender beads in it so they think it's like a bag of drugs or something" she continued.

Officials said Albany airports in a matter of the day or a time of your flight arrive at the airport two hours before departure time so that the entire process can fly by.