Airport staffing issues, weather slow down busy holiday travel day

NEW YORK — Airport staffing issues and weather slowed down one of the busiest holiday travel days across the Tri-State Area on Tuesday.
Travelers had to deal with slick conditions as they headed to their holiday destinations, and those who will be traveling on Thanksgiving Day will see another round of rain.
The Federal Aviation Administration said air traffic controller staffing issues caused ground delays at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday, adding that it is was planning for possible ground stops or delays at John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport until 10 p.m. Tuesday.
The delays are coming as the Thanksgiving travel period enters its peak. AAA projects 5.84 million people will fly domestically this holiday, an increase of 2% compared to last year and a nearly 11% increase since the pandemic.
The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen a record 18.3 million people over the next seven days, with Tuesday and Wednesday being the busiest before Thanksgiving.
“More people gonna be headed out tomorrow. I try to see if I can head out Tuesday or even the Monday before if able to,” traveler Lucero Manzanares said.
“It happened to be one of the cheapest days to fly, opposed to Wednesday when I flew last year … It was like, forget it, the lines were extremely long,” traveler Valerie Snoddy said.
Travelers at LaGuardia Airport said they arrived early to be safe.
“We try to do the two hours early just in case security is long,” said traveler Mia Irwin.
The TSA said by the end of Tuesday, the agency expects to have screened around 2.8 million people nationwide, and after Thanksgiving, they expect airports across the country to see the highest number of travelers on Sunday.
AAA said more than 70 million will hit the roads this holiday travel week, and Tuesday afternoon was expected to be one of the peak travel periods.
According to AAA, the busiest times to travel are Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, but even those trying to get a head start early Tuesday ran into problems.
“I drove up to come get [my daughter], and it took me over two and a half hours. The traffic was terrible,” traveler Debora Sciullo said.
Long Island resident Mike Small thought he had it made leaving Long Island.
“I said to myself, ‘You know what, I’m not going to leave until 10 o’clock because I know the traffic,’ but I didn’t factor in the rain, I didn’t factor in the holidays, and as you can see, it’s been about three hours, and I’m finally in New Jersey,” he said.
“There was a lot of traffic getting off of Long Island on the Bell Parkway, but now it looks like it’s clear sailing in New Jersey,” Long Island resident Joanne Pedranghelu said.
In New York City, cars inched down 11th Avenue towards the Lincoln Tunnel on Tuesday evening, the frustrating tail end of a day tinged with red taillights.
“Coming in, too, was almost two hours when it’s usually about an hour,” one driver said.
Travel by car, AAA says, might be the way to go with lower gas prices this Thanksgiving.  A spokesperson says people are mostly traveling to warm destinations like Florida.
“We’re seeing just a very strong year for travel in general. It might be slowing down, the growth, a little bit toward the end of the year, but for most of the year, travel was just off the charts,” the spokesperson said.
AAA said the best time to travel is early Thanksgiving morning. Meanwhile, AAA said drivers returning home on Sunday should leave early in the morning, and those coming back on Monday should expect a mix of travelers and work commuters.

Ali Bauman

contributed to this report.