On Friday, millions of Americans will leave work early and head to the airport for a Christmastime flight, creating traffic jams on major airport approach routes that are worse than the daily rush hour.
It's the busiest day of the Christmas and New Year's holiday season to fly, according to travel-comparison site Kayak.
If you're flying from Miami, New York's JFK or Chicago's O'Hare airports, you should really brace yourself.
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Traffic congestion on the way to those three will be the worst among 12 of the nation's biggest airports, even if the weather is good, according to a special analysis of holiday traffic around airports by Inrix, a congestion-tracking firm based in Seattle.
"Traffic conditions on Friday afternoon around those three airports especially will be a combination of folks leaving for the airport, leaving to visit relatives in the suburbs and the normal commuter traffic," says Jim Bak, Inrix's director of community relations.
Even in the best of weather conditions, flying over the Christmas and New Year's holidays is often a headache. For many, that pain starts long before takeoff. It begins with the trip to the airport, whether that means piling into the family sedan and driving or getting everyone into a taxi with luggage, presents and toys to entertain the kids.
It's a high-stakes game, because the consequences are great if you don't make it to the airport on time: If you miss your flight, you may be out of luck, because airlines have fewer open seats on planes than last year.
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"The trip to the airport is stressful for a lot of people," says Tim Lomax, a traffic-congestion expert at the Texas Transportation Institute. "You get families traveling, you get people who (you) aren't familiar with traveling together, and then you get congestion getting there."
Friday's traffic at the 12 major airports Inrix studied — New York's JFK, Miami, Chicago's O'Hare, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston Bush, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Charlotte — will be highly unpredictable, Bak says.
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"Congestion will peak outside the normal rush hour period, requiring drivers to allot more time," Bak says. "Traffic along those airport routes will be unlike it is on any other day. The worst delays will be at different times than drivers normally expect."
His advice: "Leave early to allow extra time, and use airline and airport websites and other technological tools on mobile phones" for updates.
Casey Jones, chairman of the International Parking Institute, an industry trade group, suggests that travelers think carefully about airport parking.
"If you give it thought, you can plan for it," he says, suggesting that travelers check airport and off-airport parking sites for timely information on available parking.
Frequent flier Margaret Bowles, an attorney in Winter Park, Colo., has a key tip for holiday travelers trying to make a flight: Don't depend on a cab.
Bowles learned that the hard way five years ago when she planned to fly from Boston to Colorado. She lived only 10 minutes from the airport, but "I was nervous about the traffic and called a cab about three hours ahead of my flight." The taxi that she was repeatedly told "was right around the corner" never arrived.
Bowles missed her flight, flying out the following day. But since her friends had arrived the day before, she had to make the drive to the ski resort alone and wound up riding out a winter storm at a less-than-desirable hotel.
"It was just like the Steve Martin movie Planes, Trains Automobiles," she says.
Expect the unexpected
Inrix, which collects real-time traffic data from more than 100 million vehicles, analyzed projected holiday traffic patterns for USA TODAY at 12 of the nation's busiest airports.
They found that peak congestion periods around those airports will shift, dramatically in some cases, from the patterns drivers might expect.
While congestion around most of the airports will peak in the late afternoon and evening hours from 4 to 7, Inrix says, the worst back-ups around airports in Denver, San Francisco and Houston will occur in the morning or at lunchtime.
In Denver, for example, Inrix projects that the heaviest congestion on Interstate 70 E. and Peña Boulevard from downtown to Denver International Airport on Saturday will occur around 7 a.m.
"People in Denver have learned that if you want to get out and you want to avoid delays, you're better off taking a morning flight than an evening flight," Bak says. "That plane is already there, and you just have to be able to take off."
At JFK, holiday airport congestion could be worsened by 300 striking airport security guards, whose duties include directing traffic in front of terminals. The security workers voted last week to authorize a strike about their complaints citing improper training and equipment, and low wages.
Getting stuck in traffic on the way to the airport puts a damper on the whole trip.
Erica O'Connor knows. During the Thanksgiving holiday, she had a late-afternoon flight home to Seattle from her family's home near Los Angeles, flying out of Burbank Bob Hope Airport. "My mom was driving me to the airport," says O'Connor, 27. "It's L.A., and it was pretty close to rush hour, so we had given ourselves plenty of time."
Two miles from their exit on the Ventura Freeway, they hit traffic, creeping along for 20 minutes to the exit. O'Connor missed her flight and had to pay $240 for a flight the next day. "I was frustrated, and a little stressed out, because I was planning to come to work the next day," say O'Connor.
Those going by automobile might find the trip a bit slower this year: Auto club AAA says that 84.4 million people — 1.3% more than last year — will hit the road for trips of at least 50 miles. They could be delayed by DUI checkpoints as police across the USA crack down on drunk driving, which killed 395 in the second half of December last year.
A tight fit?
Holiday air travelers can expect slightly fuller planes this year.
Airlines expect 42 million passengers to fly during the holidays. That's down about 300,000, or 1%, from last year, the industry group Airlines for America says.
But they could face fewer delays than usual. The industry has worked to reduce delays during the holidays, long the most delay-prone period of the year. Last year, airlines set a 17-year record for December for getting flights to their destinations on time.
The stellar on-time performance was aided by good weather, and forecasters expect relatively mild weather throughout most of the USA for at least the early part of the holidays.
Weather that delays or cancels flights is the bane of winter holiday air travel. But the skies are less crowded, and that helps ease delays.
The Federal Aviation Administration has gotten better at managing air traffic, and airlines are flying fewer planes following the financial collapse of 2008, says John Hansman, aeronautics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Last December, 84% of flights arrived on time, which the Transportation Department says set a record for the month in the 17 years it has collected delay statistics. The on-time rate among 16 airlines studied improved from 72% in December 2010, the department says.
"However, the big uncertainty is the weather," Hansman says. "Everything that we've done to clean up and reduce schedules can be blown away if the weather gets really bad."
The long-range forecast, which is subject to change, indicates the weather may cooperate in much of the nation.
A cold front Friday is expected to bring lots of lake-effect snow around the Great Lakes region, possibly into Ohio and West Virginia, and heavy precipitation is expected that day in central and northern California, says meteorologist Ed O'Lenic of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "The rest of the country is fairly dry," he says.
On Saturday and Sunday, rain is expected to continue in northern California, Oregon and Washington, with the rest of the USA remaining mostly dry, he says.
Best and worst times to travel from popular airports
Leaving on Dec. 22 (except New York JFK, where times are for Dec. 21) and returning Dec. 26.
Atlanta
Route: Downtown to Atlanta airport via I-75 South.
Average distance: 8.2 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 7.6 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 12.7 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 6 p.m.
Charlotte
Route: Downtown to airport via US-74.
Average distance: 14 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 12.9 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 14.2 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 3 p.m.
Chicago O'Hare
Route: Downtown to O'Hare via Kennedy Expressway W.
Average distance: 8.2 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 7.6 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 24.8 minutes
Peak congestion time: 4 p.m.
Dallas/Fort Worth
Route: Downtown to DFW airport via Texas State Highway 183 W.
Average distance: 13.9 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 12.8 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 24.8 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 7 p.m.
Denver
Route: Downtown to DIA via I-70 E and Peña Blvd.
Average distance: 19.7 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 18.9 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 35.9 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 7 a.m.
Houston George Bush
Route: Downtown to airport via US-59 N.
Average distance: 15.6 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 14.4 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 29.9 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 1 p.m.
Las Vegas
Route: Vegas Strip to airport via I-15 S.
Average distance: 8.2 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 14 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 21.4 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 4 p.m.
Los Angeles
Route: Downtown to LAX via I-110 South.
Average distance: 17.3 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 16 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 34.3 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 6 p.m.
Miami
Route: Downtown to Miami airport via Dolphin Expressway W.
Average distance: 4.3 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 4.1 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 22.9 minutes
Peak congestion time: 6 p.m.
New York JFK
Route: Hunters Point to JFK via Long Island Expressway.
Average distance: 11.1 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 10.6 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 60 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 6 p.m.
Phoenix
Route: Phoenix to airport via I-10 E.
Average distance: 6.5 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 6 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 7.8 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 5 p.m.
San Francisco
Route: Downtown to San Francisco airport via U.S. 101 S.
Average distance: 9.3 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 8.6 minutes
Travel time during congestion peak: 21.0 minutes
Peak congestion time: 8 a.m.
Getting home
Returning from the airport on Dec. 26.
Atlanta
Route: Airport to downtown via I-75 N.
Average distance: 8.2 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 7.6
Travel time during congestion peak: 9.1 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 9 a.m.
Charlotte
Route: Airport to downtown via US-74.
Average distance: 14 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 12.9 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 14.3 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 5 p.m.
Chicago O'Hare
Route: Airport to downtown via Kennedy Expressway E.
Average distance: 7.6 minutes.
Free-flow travel time: 7.6 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 13.1 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 5 p.m.
Dallas/Fort Worth
Route: Airport to downtown via Texas 183 E.
Average distance: 13.9 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 12.8 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 14.8 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 7 a.m.
Denver
Route: Airport to downtown via I-70 W. and Peña Blvd.
Average distance: 19.7 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 18.9 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 21.5 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 11 a.m.
Houston George Bush
Route: Airport to downtown via US-59 S.
Average distance: 15.6 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 14.4 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 16.6 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 7 a.m.
Las Vegas
Route: Airport to Vegas Strip via I-15 N.
Average distance: 8.2 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 14 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 22.8 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 3 p.m.
Los Angeles
Route: Airport to downtown via I-110 N.
Average distance: 17.3 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 16 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 18.4 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 9 a.m.
Miami
Route: Airport to downtown via Dolphin Expressway E.
Average distance: 4.3 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 4.1 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 6.7 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 8 p.m.
New York JFK
Route: Airport to Hunters Point via Long Island Expressway W.
Average distance: 11.1 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 10.6 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 23.2 minutes
Peak congestion time: 4 p.m.
Phoenix
Route: Airport to Phoenix via I-10 W.
Average distance: 6.5 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 6 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 6.8 minutes.
Peak congestion time: 6 p.m.
San Francisco
Route: Airport to downtown via US-101 N.
Average distance: 9.3 miles.
Free-flow travel time: 8.6 minutes.
Travel time during congestion peak: 9.9 minutes.
Peak congestion time: noon.
Source Inrix
Contributing: Charisse Jones
Source: http://www.news.theusalinks.com/2012/12/19/airport-survival-guide-how-to-navigate-busy-holidays/
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