SEATTLE — Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is expected to see pre-pandemic travel volumes this Labor Day weekend, according to the Port of Seattle.
Volumes will be about 18% higher than they were last year.
The busiest day is expected to be Monday, with 190,000 travelers arriving or departing from Sea-Tac Airport. There are 185,000 travelers expected on Friday and another 177,000 travelers on Sunday.
The Port of Seattle advises travelers to utilize the SEA Spot Saver program to speed up the trip through the TSA lines, monitor Sea-Tac's social media and text messaging, watch the drive cams to monitor traffic congestion at the airport and plan on an extra 45 to 60 minutes to park if utilizing the Sea-Tac garage.
New technology at Sea-Tac’s checkpoints is helping to move the process along faster.
"The TSA started investing more heavily in technology to increase the efficiency of the operation," said Lorie Dankers, TSA spokesperson for Washington. "The CT scanners are a perfect example of that."
The computed tomography X-ray scanner allows people to leave everything in their carry-on while it conducts a 3-D scan. Even for expert travelers, the technology is changing fast as are the procedures.
“The officers stationed at the CT scanner will tell travelers what they need to do so listen up to what they tell you because anytime a traveler does less, it makes the operation go quicker and it’s easier for travelers,” Dankers said.
This summer nearly 5.5 million people have been screened through Sea-Tac. Across the country, 14.25 million people are expected to travel this holiday weekend.
“All of our officers on duty will be using overtime to extend their shift," Dankers said. "We have our national staffing resources that will be working as well, and we're going to make sure we have all of our lanes open to process everybody through the security checkpoint."