Tips for traveling after the holidays

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) — While some travelers might be spending December 26th in Buffalo, others are starting their journeys home or taking last-minute vacations before the new year.

“We’re going to head down south, and kind of recharge and get ready for the rest of the school year,” said Sanborn resident Brad Rowles, whose family is traveling down to Orlando.

Others are taking their last leg of traveling home for the holidays.

“We would have stayed longer if we could have,” said Alanna Gallagher, who’s from Western New York.

“It’s great to see family and stay here, but gotta get back to work,” added John Gallagher.

AAA predicts that this year’s holiday travel season could be record-breaking, with 3 million more travelers expected to travel between last Saturday and New Year’s. Some of the travelers hopping on a flight today say the airport was a much different scene traveling out than into Western New York.

It’s beginning to look like another record for holiday travel

“I was actually surprised getting here at 7:15 and it not being as busy as I expected,” Mitch Simon, who’s traveling home to Chicago after visiting family, said.

“I think getting here was pretty hectic, getting in and out of security was pretty busy but I think for the most part things went pretty smoothly,” John Gallagher added.

At the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, they’re predicting holiday travel turnout to be more spread out throughout the days leading into the new year.

“People usually come here for the holidays as oppose of leaving for the holidays, so what we’re expecting is this weekend, we’re going to see people coming out,” said NFTA public information officer and communications manager Kelly Khatib. “We’re predicting that possibly this Friday and Saturday — those are going to be our high volume days.”

The NFTA recommends always preparing ahead of your flight to help smoothen the process, including arriving to the airport a few hours early, and downloading your airline’s app.

“Even the small things like not wearing a belt, making sure you’re wearing slip on shoes, making sure you’re pouring out your water, things like that,” Khatib advised. “Because it just makes it much easier to get through that line and get to your gate on time.”

Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here.

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