Thanksgiving holiday travelers should allow extra time at Chicago airports

ByMegan Hickey WLS logo
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Thanksgiving travel kicks off on Wednesday
Wednesday night was slated to be the busiest on the roads for Thanksgiving travelers.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Thousands of Chicagoans are heading out for the holiday. That means getting through a crowd of people at the airport.

The TSA expects this Thanksgiving travel holiday to be one of the busiest in years. Sunday is expected to break the administration's five busiest days ever, with more than 2.6 million people screened. Chicago's O'Hare and Midway international airports are expected to be among the busiest in the nation.

TSA officials encouraged people to arrive two hours ahead of domestic flights. But passengers ABC7 Eyewitness News spoke with early Wednesday morning said they got to O'Hare much earlier than that. Some arrived three or four hours before their flights were scheduled to depart.

"You never know. I heard on the news that it's going to be busy today and I just wanted to be ready. My daughter would rather sleep, but I'm like, 'Let's go and get there early,'" said Shakundala Narayan, who flew out of O'Hare Wednesday morning.

For those airline passengers, the Department of Transportation recently relaunched its passenger rights site. It's a good idea to visit transportation.gov/airconsumer to know what travelers' rights are when it comes to bumped flights, delays, cancellations and lost baggage.

The TSA expects this Thanksgiving travel holiday to be one of the busiest in years.
Thousands of Chicagoans started their Thanksgiving travel Wednesday morning.