Airlines gear up for high holiday travel volume
DALLAS – It's beginning to look a lot like the holiday travel season! And, after record-breaking Thanksgiving travel, the airlines are expecting big numbers of travelers this year.
American Airlines is expecting a haul this holiday season that would daunt Santa himself - nearly 2 million passengers from Dec. 20 to Jan. 8, which they've defined as the peak holiday travel period.
"It was pretty busy," said traveler Tobi Alexander, a college student. "I flew through Indy, and it was snowing, so we had to de-ice our plane. I feel like flights are a little bit later, coming in late. It was pretty crowded."
AA's Senior Vice President Jim Moses said preparations have been underway for most of the year, starting with new hires.
"And that our team members, either on board aircraft on the ground, folks that look after our aircraft, our tech ops team, our customer service agents, our fleet service agents, really all of the team members we have been hiring really throughout the year to make sure we are staffed and ready to go this holiday period."
He also said they've invested in new technology.
"We also have technology that we use in some key areas to ensure that we are managing our operation really to the best of our ability and doing it better than any of our competitors."
He recommended arriving at the airport 90 minutes before a domestic flight and two hours before an international one, advice that passenger Tristian Timm took to heart.
"It wasn't too bad. I was expecting it to be crazy. I'm a holiday prepper, so I literally plan two hours ahead. Showed up to the airport two hours in advance, and it was literally like 10 minutes getting through in Phoenix," he said.
Moses acknowledged that disruptions happen due to Mother Nature. But he said the best insurance is good planning.
"It's all about how we've prepared for those disruptions, the plan we built and how the team goes and executes on those plans."
He also said they've seen an increase in bookings from this time last year, so they are expecting it to be busier than the 2022 season.