Travelers Have Reason to Be Thankful; They Experienced Their Best Thanksgiving Travel Weekend in Recent Years
02 December 2003 - 5:51AM
PR Newswire (US)
Travelers Have Reason to Be Thankful; They Experienced Their Best
Thanksgiving Travel Weekend in Recent Years With Relative Ease and
Good Weather Around the Country, Most Airport Travelers Say, 'Wait
- what wait?' FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Just two
years after the hour- long lines that dominated post 9/11 travel,
it seems that travelers and the Transportation Security
Administration have the routine down pat. Wait times from curbside
through to security, tracked on the hour by Travelocity
representatives, on the whole went against the grain for what is
usually expected during the holiday travel crush. At airports
around the country, monitored by Travelocity, average wait times
were consistently below 20 minutes from the curb drop-off all the
way through security. Dedicated to informing travelers,
Travelocity(R) stationed people at 25 of the nation's busiest
airports for the third year in a row to monitor security waits and
ticket counter lines on two of the busiest travel days of the year,
the Wednesday before and the Sunday following Thanksgiving (Nov. 26
and 30). "Thanksgiving is the kick-off to the holiday travel season
and can serve as a measure for what's in store for the busy travel
days ahead. Based on travels during the Thanksgiving weekend, it
looks like travelers' wishes have been granted this year as wait
times were kept to a minimum," said Travelocity Editor-at-Large,
Amy Ziff. "Our airport watchers reported seeing relatively few
delays at the nation's 25 busiest airports. In fact, some of the
longest wait times reported were at coffee bars, not security
areas. Of course there were places where wait times and delays
spiked, but those were the exception, not the rule. "Even with the
Transportation Security Administration's new policies and reduced
staffing everyone kept pace," Ziff continued. "Travelers came to
the airport with everything from surfboards to microwaves, but they
now know the rules about what to check and what to carry with them.
This looks like a very good start to what is expected to be a
robust holiday travel season." Here are the observations made by
Travelocity representatives stationed at 25 of the nation's busiest
airports: Wednesday, November 26th longest average waits from
curbside through to security were found at: * Atlanta: 30 minutes *
Washington Dulles: 30 minutes * Cleveland: 25 minutes Wednesday,
November 26th shortest average waits from curbside through to
security were found at: * Dallas/Fort Worth: 10 minutes * Houston
Bush Intercontinental: 10 minutes * Baltimore, Washington National,
Boston, Chicago Midway, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Jose,
Seattle: all 15 minutes Sunday, November 30th longest average waits
from curbside through to security were found at: * Washington
Dulles: 30 minutes * Miami: 28 minutes * Orlando: 27 minutes
Sunday, November 30th shortest average waits from curbside through
to security were found at: * San Jose: 10.5 minutes * Chicago
O'Hare: 10.6 minutes * Chicago Midway: 11 minutes Additional
results: * Some of the longest lines spotted were for coffee and
other concessions inside the terminals. The good news was with
smooth sailing through the airport, people had plenty of time to
pick up that cup of java or burger to go. * Parking for the holiday
filled up quickly. By 9 a.m. many airports were running low on
space at their long-term parking lots. * Some airports provided
special holiday programming to entertain and relax travelers: --
The Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago Midway airports had musical
entertainment. -- At LaGuardia there was an elf doing face painting
and making balloon animals. -- At San Jose magicians entertained
passengers. -- At Dallas/Fort Worth the holiday helper staff also
gave out treats like popcorn, candy, soda and more. In addition to
providing the airport information, Travelocity's Eye On The Sky,
Rally Caparas, reported that air traffic made travel conditions
excellent in most airports around the country. His information is
uniquely found on Travelocity and can be especially useful for
holiday travelers. About Travelocity Travelocity, a Sabre
Holdings(TM) company, pioneered the online travel space and
continues to be the most popular travel service on the Web, giving
consumers access to hundreds of airlines, thousands of hotels and
cruise, last-minute and vacations packages, and best-in-class car
rental companies, all backed by 1,000 customer service
representatives staffed to provide 24-hour assistance. With 41
million members, Travelocity is the sixth largest travel agency in
the United States. It has been recognized worldwide for its
leadership in the online travel space, and it operates or powers
Web sites in five languages across four continents. Additional
information about Travelocity can be found on the Web at
http://www.travelocity.com/ . Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE:TSG)
is a world leader in travel commerce, retailing travel products and
providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel
industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at
http://www.sabre-holdings.com/ . CONTACT: Judy Haveson ()
212/554-7425 Amanda Borichevsky () 972/448-4790 Vollmer DATASOURCE:
Travelocity CONTACT: Judy Haveson, +1-212-554-7425, or , or Amanda
Borichevsky +1-972-448-4790, or , both of Vollmer, for Travelocity
Web site: http://www.travelocity.com/
http://www.sabre-holdings.com/
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