Record breaking: Travelers can expect long lines at Sea-Tac
Jun 29, 2024, 2:00 PM | Updated: 2:05 pm
All-time air travel records are being set around the country right now and the Seattle Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International Airport is no exception.
Lori Dankers with TSA told KIRO Newsradio the airport has already seen its second and third biggest travel days of all time this week and Friday is going to be bigger.
“TSA at Sea-Tac has had the second and third busiest days in our history in the past week and we haven’t even hit the full Fourth of July travel rush,” Dankers said.
The number of travelers is near 100,000.
“Here at Sea-Tac we’re talking about the number of people going to the security checkpoint and the 72 to 73,000 person range and that’s a lot of people to go through the checkpoints there,” Dankers told KIRO Newsradio.
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However, she noted not just Sea-Tac but airports around the county are seeing a spike.
“People need to know that when they come to the airport it is going to be busy, but not only in Seattle, but at airports across the country. TSA is consistently breaking records, in fact, yesterday was the fifth busiest day ever in TSA’s history, we expect to break a record today,” Dankers said.
Tips to travel through Sea-Tac
Dankers’ tip to visitors? She said people can use any TSA checkpoint as each one leads to all gates.
“All checkpoints lead to all gates so you’re not tied to any one checkpoint, go to the one that works for you,” Dankers said.
Dankers’ other travel tip is to check the leaderboard and then go to the TSA checkpoint with the shortest line. Visitors can also download the FlySEA app which gives real-time updates for TSA lines.
Those driving to the airport on Friday should take the south entrance at 182nd and go into the garage, according to Sea-Tac Airport’s Senior Media Relations Manager Perry Cooper. Once in the garage, park and then meet people in the terminal and bring them back. When back in the car, head out the exit to avoid the traffic. The garage costs the price of one hour of parking.
Contributing: Charlie Harger, KIRO Newsradio
Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.
