Give thanks, travelers: Airport not a madhouse

Brad Nettles
The Post and Courier

Andy and Allison Clark, with their 5-year-old daughter Anson, breezed through their check-in Tuesday at Charleston International Airport. The Mount Pleasant family was heading to Louisiana for Thanksgiving.

With virtually empty check-in counters and thin security screening lines, Charleston International Airport concealed any holiday traveling mayhem Tuesday.

Perhaps that's partly because the number of South Carolinians flying this Thanksgiving is expected to fall 9 percent below last year's numbers, according to AAA Carolinas.

Debra Engel, the Transportation Security Administration's Charleston director, suggested that the sense of order has something to do with opening both security lanes all week, not just at peak hours.

"During the Thanksgiving season we are pulling out all the stops and having both lanes open all the time,"

Engel said. "We certainly have not seen any increased traffic. I think it's a direct result of us having both lanes open."

She cautioned that any moment of care-free travel "doesn't mean that in the next hour we might not have a 20-minute wait."

And today's flights are nearly sold out.

Thanksgiving brings out the most novice travelers, Engel said, and some of those people might not know about the newest security regulations.

She advised fliers that if it comes down to tossing the bottle of shampoo or trying to sneak it through in carry-on luggage, don't risk holding everyone up because of the additional screening you would require.

And for those travelers griping about removing their shoes or throwing away their coffee for TSA officials, Engel stressed that her full staff works through the holiday rush to make sure air passengers make it out on schedule.

"We simply are bringing everybody in," she said. "Nobody's taking leave during that time."

Standing at a self-check-in kiosk Tuesday afternoon, four golfing buddies from Ontario, Canada, had no complaints about Charleston International Airport, but said the airline had complicated their vacation by changing their flight twice.

"We had to change all our golf tee times to accommodate the flight time," Rick Halsted said.

After adjusting the schedule, the group learned that its flight had again changed.

To meet the new tee times, "we had to fly a day earlier, which meant we had to pay for a hotel an extra day and a rental car an extra day," Halsted said.

Plus, as he and his friends embarked Tuesday, they knew a four-hour layover in Atlanta lay ahead, and that wasn't part of their original itinerary.

Cassie Mandel, a College of Charleston sophomore, had no problems as she breezed through security Tuesday afternoon with her Siamese kitten, Abby. But she did have to skip a history class to get the best deal on her flight home to New Jersey for Thanksgiving.

"You have to do whatever is cheapest," she said.

These days, that means packing lighter and skipping refreshments, as airlines add a-la-carte fees to compensate for a year of brutal fuel prices.

Low-cost carrier AirTran Airways announced two weeks ago that it would begin charging $15 for its passengers' first checked bag. It previously had charged $25 for a second checked bag.

Delta will begin charging the same fees Dec. 5, which U.S. Airways began assessing on flights booked after July 9.

Even a window seat will cost you extra on some airlines. And good luck finding free soda or pretzels on a domestic flight.

David Jennings, chairman of the Charleston County Aviation Authority, said he recently paid $5 to move to an aisle closer to the front of a plane on a trip to Washington, D.C.

"Paying $5 got me off the plane five minutes faster," Jennings said. "That time is worth it to me."