Thanksgiving brings thousands to Ohio airports

COLUMBUS, Ohio — John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) has thousands of travelers coming through each day for the Thanksgiving holiday. 

What You Need To Know

• Experts recommend you arrive 90 minutes early for domestic flights, 2 hours early for international
• TSA has staff on hand to help travelers with disabilities
• TSA screens between 11,000 and 17,000 passengers each day
• When packing, visit TSA’s website to double check items you can and cannot bring

According to airport officials, there are over 55,000 scheduled departing airline seats for Thanksgiving travel — numbers that are at pre pandemic levels. The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) reports passenger volume at 95% of 2019’s levels for the Thanksgiving travel week.

Josh Kermisch and his family bought a recreational cehivle to travel in during the pandemic, but now they are ready to fly again and have planned accordingly.

“We’re a family of four, so it’s a production,” said Kermisch. “It starts with packing, which I think was probably two days ago, and then I work out of New York City so I  flew in last night and now I’m flying back out to Minnesota.” 

TSA said that on an average day they screen around two million people across the country,  but for holidays they see around 2.9 million.

Because many people haven’t traveled in a while, one of the biggest reminders from security is to not carry on a gun. TSA in Columbus has already seen 36 guns at security checkpoints. None of the cases had intent to harm, but the TSA wants to remind people to put their guns in their checked bag.

If you or your loved one has a disability, you can visit TSA’s website and go to TSA Cares or call ahead to have someone meet you at the checkpoint to assist you. TSA has faced staffing issues, but federal security said there’s a plan in place for the holidays.

“There are some challenges with hiring like most organizations are having right now, but because of some of the challenges we’re currently reinforced with what we call the National Deployment Force,” said Don Barker, the Federal Security Director for Ohio. “I have screeners from elsewhere in the country that are actually here for this holiday period and the next holiday period to help handle the volume that we have going through Columbus.” 

CMH officials suggest following the Kermisch family’s lead and start packing early. They also advise travelers to arrive 90 minutes early for domestic flights and two hours early for international.

While Thanksgiving weekend is underway, Sarah McQuaide with the Columbus Regional Airport Authority said that this is the perfect time to prepare for your next trip.

“We’re talking today about Thanksgiving travel but now is actually a great time to book your winter vacation somewhere warm,” said McQuaide. “Even your spring or summer destinations, we have nearly 50 nonstop destinations to choose from right now which is more than we had before the pandemic.”

The Kermisch family took McQuaide’s advice and have plans to go on a cruise to the Caribbean next winter, but for now they plan on eating a 14-hour smoked turkey with their family and watching the Buckeyes beat the team up north.

“We’re Buckeyes through and through and go Bucks,” said Kermisch. “We’ll be eating lots of appetizers, wings and drinking some beer.” 

If you are traveling this holiday season you can find updated info from CMH here and TSA guidelines here.