Black Friday sees busier crowds than previous years at Atlanta’s airport

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) -This Thanksgiving is proving to be one of the busiest travel-wise since even before the pandemic and Black Friday is shaping up to be busier than expected at Atlanta’s airport.

“I was expecting more of a crowd actually. I got here like three hours early. So I’m kind of pleasantly surprised that it’s not as busy,” said Adrienne Lane, who’s flying home to Dallas.

Airline employees telling Atlanta News First there’s more of a crowd here today than usual, but lines not looking anything like earlier in the week.

“It was very busy. I waited in line for so long,” said Lane, who flew in Saturday.

“Oh my god. I had to wait two hours for my luggage. That’s crazy,” said Judith Xavier, who flew in from Haiti.

Tuesday and Wednesday and Sunday are usually the busiest days to fly Thanksgiving week, but folks flying Friday decided to avoid those crowds and cut down on costs.

“It was just cheaper to fly, um the day after thanksgiving. I wish I could’ve stayed longer. At least over the weekend. Its just cheaper to fly,” said Lane.

According to the Consumer Price Index, flights costs have jumped 25% in the last year. Despite that, a Bank of America Institute survey saw spending at airlines and travel agencies is up 60% year-over-year.

“I’m heading to New York for Black Friday shopping,” said Xavier.

Thursday, the TSA screened almost one million more people than on Thanksgiving last year and 150,000 more people on Wednesday than they did last year. 2 million people are expected to fly through Atlanta this week alone, according to airport officials.

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