ATLANTA — Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said they are expecting one million more passengers to come through the airport this Thanksgiving than last year.
A new mini checkpoint area is expected to relieve wait times. The area is separate from the main TSA line. It was used for the first time Friday morning.
“We’re opening up a new auxiliary security checkpoint line downstairs in our lower north level," said Andrew Gobeil, communications director for the airport. "We opened it up for the first time today and it worked fantastic.”
He said the goal is to ease some of the pressure travelers feel during the holidays because of longer wait times.
“We want to make sure that we are on average about 20-25 minutes. Throughout today, we were a little bit below which is good," he said.
Gobeil said the mini checkpoint played a role in that. He also said the more than 60,000 airport employees who normally go through the regular check-in line, will now also go through the mini checkpoint too.
“We will have customer support representatives here to direct people. We’ll have signage out here to direct people,” Gobeil said.
However, that doesn’t mean tossing out the best practice officials recommend, such as arriving two and a half hours early.
Some passengers who had their own tips to mitigate extra time talked to 11Alive Friday. Wesley Watkins wanted to avoid paying an extra bag fee, so he tried something new.
“So, I actually just did this last night – the Army roll. You just roll your clothes up and it all fits in there tighter. It does work, I was shocked," Watkins said.
Briana Lott Thompson said she likes to make it easier to get to her gate.
"Check in on your phone. Prepare for TSA ahead of time and be sure to wear comfy, easy-to-take-off shoes," she said.
The same is true for Rob Ostrowski.
“Leave your host city early in case you need more time and then you can enjoy the trip and can have a cup of coffee," Ostrowski said
Airport officials said they will evaluate how things work with the mini checkpoint over the holiday week to see if they need to make changes.