PHL Expects 500,000 Passengers To Come Through Airport During Memorial Day Weekend
PHILDELPHIA (CBS) -- Millions of Americans are hitting the road for Memorial Day weekend. It's one of the busiest times to be at Philadelphia International Airport.
We spotted some long lines at security checkpoints, but the lines weren't as bad as they were early Friday morning.
TSA officials say roughly 2.15 million passengers were screened across the country Wednesday, which is their start of the holiday weekend travel.
At PHL, travel volume hasn't returned to the record-setting pre-pandemic level, but it is up from last year.
"We're about 25% down this holiday period than we were in 2019, but we're about 36% up than we were last year," Heather Redfern, a spokesperson with PHL, said. "So again, people are flying. People have the itch to travel. It's been two long years."
PHL is asking passengers to arrive three hours early for their flight, even for domestic travel.
Officials expect 500,000 passengers to come through PHL through next Tuesday.
PHL says the earliest flights are usually the busiest flights of the whole day.
As of Friday morning, the big board looks good with all flights going out on time, but that has potential to change this afternoon with the threat of severe weather.
The weather could cause some delays and cancellations, so make sure you sign up for email and text message alerts before heading to the airport.
