SEATAC, Wash. — If you are heading to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for spring break, you are not alone.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Thursday will be the busiest travel day across the country.
Sea-Tac airport officials are forecasting 160,000 travelers on Thursday and Monday, with over 170,000 travelers on Friday.
It's the first-holiday travel holiday rush since the December travel meltdown that saw a historic number of flight cancellations. Freezing rain shut down Sea-Tac the Friday before the holiday weekend. Over 700 flights were canceled.
Sea-Tac was running smoothly on Thursday morning but some travelers said the concern is when something does go wrong. In that case, it's often an all-day recovery effort and they hope the airport makes some changes, the travelers told KING 5.
"Faster security better security lines it just takes forever here sometimes, said Rhonna Kollenkark who was traveling to Costa Rica with her family.
Kollenkark said security lines that back into the garage are a safety concern.
"You gotta kind of wonder about the safety of having so many people standing in line queued up on this part of the airport I mean there's no clearance on whoever comes here," Kollenkark said.
Sea-Tac officials told KING 5 they have been working with the Transportation Security Adminstration to hire additional staff for busy travel times like spring break. The airport said it has added more spots and extended the hours of the SEA Spot Saver program.
There is a new automated parking system in the garage where available spots will have a green light above them and turn red when unavailable.
"We've seen that cut down parking time by about 50%," said Perry Cooper with Sea-Tac.
Meanwhile, both drives have heavy construction as part of the $4.6 billion dollar Upgrade SEA program.
As always, Cooper advises you to take public transportation to the airport and allow an additional 45 minutes in your plan to park before taking off.