CHICAGO (WLS) — The tarmac at O’Hare Airport was a busy place Friday, one of the busiest travel days of the year.
The video in the player above is from a previous report.
With the start of Memorial Day weekend, many travelers got ready to head out of town and were excited.
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According to the Chicago Department of Aviation, Thursday was anticipated to be the busiest day at O’Hare Airport, with Midway Airport expected to have the highest number of travelers on Monday.
This weekend is poised for record-breaking travel. AAA projects that over 45 million Americans will be traveling, surpassing the previous record set in 2005.
Tiffany Knauer is heading to visit her son in Florida, and she expected the airport to be more crowded.
“I expected worse,” Knauer said. “I am pleasantly surprised. The traffic outside was even better.”
O’Hare Airport was anticipated to handle over 1.5 million travelers through its terminals over the long weekend, marking nearly a 7% increase compared to last year at this time.
American Airlines is expecting a big increase in the number of flights and travelers going through Chicago over this time last year.
“Planning for this weekend started months ago, back in October, as we figured out when we wanted to fly, where we wanted to fly and how we wanted to use our gate space,” said Ben Humphrey with American Airlines.
United Airlines said they’ll fly 67,000 seats on average a day out of O’Hare, with Friday being their busiest day.
This will also be the first holiday travel period with the new Real ID requirement at airports. Travelers were encouraged to arrive early to airports as TSA deals with the new requirements.
With the Kennedy Expressway under construction, officials are urging people to take public transit to O’Hare.
On the roads, AAA says about 87% of travelers, or 39 million people, will be driving between Thursday and Monday, up 1 million over last year. They will enjoy lower gas prices than a year ago at this time, as well as slightly cheaper hotels and rental cars.
That’s good news for holiday travelers like Jen Richards, whose family has a full agenda planned for the weekend.
“We went to the Botanic gardens with the toddler, and now we are going to dinner and my mother has a sweatshirt with all the grandchildren’s pictures on it,” Richards said.
IDOT and Illinois State Police are ramping up efforts to pull over passengers not wearing their seat belt, part of their “click it or ticket campaign.”
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