DIA's Busy Holiday Travel Days Continue
By Jamie Leary
DENVER (CBS4) - Denver International Airport is consistently setting records for passenger travel, and the 2018 holiday season is no different. For this week (Monday - Sunday), DIA projects 1.2 million travelers will come through the airport, with Thursday expected to the busiest day as a projected 199,000 people pass through.
Wednesday evening, while traffic was slow-going getting to the airport, it seemed a big point of frustration was trying to leave the airport.
At the United Airlines baggage claim area, an unfortunate announcement informed passengers that it would be as long as an hour wait for oversized baggage, after the last normal bag drop.
"From Tampa. We're going to Vail. We got all the luggage, you see a lot of it there ... except for the skis, which are important," said Mike Davis.
The Davis family takes an annual New Year's ski trip to Vail. They weren't about to let missing skis get in the way of family tradition.
"I'm going to tell them my skis are lost and I'm going to have them deliver them to me and we're going to go," said Davis.
While there were many frustrated passengers waiting for skis and other large items, it seemed there were still a few hanging onto their holiday spirit.
"The reason we're wearing hats is because we weren't together Christmas morning so it doesn't matter that it's Dec. 26, it's still Christmas if you're together," said Hannah Wallender.
DIA spokeswoman Emily Williams said people are encouraged to arrive at the airport two hours before their flight and check flydenver.com for security wait time information.
Jamie Leary joined the CBS4 team in 2015 and currently works as a reporter for CBS4 News at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. She couldn't imagine a better place to live and work and will stop at nothing to find the next great story. Jamie loves learning about and hearing from her fellow community members, so connect with her on Facebook or Twitter @JamieALeary.
