Charlotte Douglas expecting record Labor Day Weekend travel

CHARLOTTE ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — Labor Day weekend travel is taking off. Queen City News spoke with a dozen or so travelers ahead of the peak rush.

“I come every week,” one passenger said. “It’s the worst airport I go to.”

“Lot of people,” another person said. “Traffic getting crazy. More flights going out.”

From Thursday to Wednesday, Charlotte Douglas will see 235,000 passengers passing through. That’s a nearly 16% increase from Labor Day weekend last year.

“I’m not surprised,” one traveler said.

“I don’t doubt it, but they can’t handle the traffic they had yesterday,” another said.

“I’m trying to get out of here right before it gets really bad,” said one man.

TSA is expecting this Labor Day travel period to be the busiest one on record and is preparing to screen more than 17 million people over the extended weekend.

Couple those numbers with the ongoing construction at Charlotte Douglas, and you’ll add a bit of confusion to the mix.

“It’s not too bad. Kind of a hassle,” said one customer.

“I think it’s changed a lot,” said another woman.

Starting on September 5th, Checkpoint C will be closed for construction. TSA PreCheck will move to Checkpoint A.

“Oh, it’s just like Intercontinental in Houston,” said one woman from Texas. “Houston is worse!” said her traveling companion.

“It’s a little hassle,” one man told Queen City News. “Parking and traffic and it, like, jams.”

“It’s a little confusing,” said one passenger, “especially for departing flights. And then once you get in, as far as TSA.”

As in an elevator, what goes up must come down, and at the airport, those coming in will eventually have to go back home.

“We have to travel on Monday, which is not going to be good,” said one woman as she exited the elevator.

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