Los Angeles International Airport expects busiest day of holiday travel season today
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Pack your patience: Wednesday is expected to be the busiest day of the holiday travel season at Los Angeles International Airport.
Approximately 255,000 people are expected to pass through LAX on Wednesday alone -- that's three times the size of the crowd at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
The airport is expected to have about 5.8 million passengers through the 25-holiday period Dec. 14 to Jan. 7, 2019. An estimated 2.5 million trips will be made on LAX roadways.
MORE: TSA agents at LAX work busy holiday weekend despite government shutdown
LAX spokesman Charles Pannunzio also noted that Century Boulevard will keep all four lanes open approaching the airport, even while there is construction work ongoing for a new Metro line. That means approaching the airport on Century Boulevard may be a quicker route than Sepulveda Boulevard, he said.
LAX officials also launched a new pilot program on the airport's Twitter feed that provides hourly updates on traffic patterns at the airport. The updates offer information such as which routes to the airport are fastest and what is the travel time around the Central Terminal Area loop.
Some tips for those at LAX:
- Travelers are urged to arrive at the airport two hours early for domestic flights and three hours early for international flights.
- The parking structures inside the airport are free for the first 15 minutes -- good for those picking up passengers with lots of luggage.
- The cellphone parking lot by Parking Lot C is a good waiting spot for those picking someone up.
- Remember you can drop off travelers at the lower level if the upper departure level is crowded.
