Long pick-up lines at RDU, heavy road traffic mark heavy day of holiday travel
MORRISVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- TSA and travel experts often tell passengers flying during the holidays to "pack their patience," and that was definitely the case for anyone heading to Raleigh-Durham International Airport for any reason on Tuesday night and into Wednesday.
And on the road, an estimated 1.4 million people were expected to travel at least 50 miles for the holiday, according to AAA.
Travel on Thanksgiving eve typically hits a high mark between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., and on Wednesday in particular, AAA estimated that most drives would take 80% longer than usual, without factoring in the weather.
Rober Gerbitz was traveling down to the Carolinas from Ohio to visit his sister. He said it's been slow going as nasty weather led to heavy traffic and slow travel.
"Well, I started yesterday morning at 9 o'clock, and I had the windshield wipers going the entire time," Gerbitz said. "I stayed in Mount Airy, so that was 450 miles of solid rain."
Travel on the roads should taper off throughout the evening and into early Thanksgiving, AAA predicted. But if you're going to the airport the pick someone up or drop them off, you should definitely build in more travel time.
According to FlightAware, there were 92 flight delays into and out of RDU on Tuesday. There were also massive pick-up lines at the airport that stretched all the way down to Aviation Parkway, at times reaching a distance of roughly two miles.
"This looks like LAX," said passenger Beth Sherman of the arrivals line, who flew down from New York. "Because this thing, everybody lining up. You can't do this in New York, they'll beat you up. This is Los Angeles behavior right here."
Beth and her travel companion Paul Doocey had already dealt with delays getting to Raleigh, as their plan first didn't have an assigned crew and then circled in a holding pattern with no slot to land.
"Took off late, obviously. And then we circled this airport for about 20 minutes," Sherman said.
Henry Dean flew in from Los Angeles with his son and said he was stunned by the scene. Dean waited for more than 30 minutes on the arrivals curb for his mother, who was stuck in the traffic line.
"It's hectic," Dean said. "I mean, in the airport in LA, even in Austin, it wasn't that crowded. But getting here to North Carolina, I guess everybody wants to come home to this Southern Lovin'."
There were ground issues on the tarmac, too. Leighton Hatch flew in from Chicago to see family in Fayetteville, and thought he was in the clear.
"Then we landed, we waited over an hour just taxiing around RDU, and it was terrible," Hatch said.
Hatch was trying to focus on the positive with weather delays still gripping several hubs along the East Coast.
"It's not too bad, you know. I get to come home. It could be worse, I could've not made it at all. So, a little inconvenience, but we made it," Hatch said.
