Passengers surprised by travel ease at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

SEATTLE – The holiday travel rush continues as many leave their loved ones and head back home after the Thanksgiving holiday. At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, lines of cars can be seen weaving outside the terminals, but inside was a very different scene than expected.

“It seems not too bad,” Jordan Schenstead, a traveler, said. He and his family arrived in Seattle on Sunday afternoon. The family of four flew in from Sacramento. 

While many expected issues due to projects like the temporary closure of Checkpoint 5, travelers say little was in their way.

“It was very chill, Sacramento is the most chill airport of all time, we’ve had no delays, so it was awesome,” Schenstead said. 

Sunday is expected to be the second-busiest travel day this holiday week, with 177,000 people expected to pass through SEA.

While the Schenstead’s journey home was ending, Christine Montufar’s was just getting started. She’s headed back to Florida after visiting her son for Thanksgiving. 

“He’s actually in the Navy here in Bremerton and this was their first Thanksgiving in their new place, so we came out here for a visit,” Montufar said.

She arrived at the airport here two hours before her flight and, other than a small delay, she told FOX 13 that getting around the airport wasn’t too bad.

From the check-in counters to the security lines and the baggage claim, there were people scattered throughout the airport. As of Sunday afternoon though, it wasn’t as crowded as many were expecting, like Eric Nelson.

“I just took the bus from the car rental place and no problem yet, and I’m kind of surprised, I would’ve thought it would be quite busy right now,” Nelson said. 

He’s flying to Oklahoma after visiting his family here in Seattle. “I got here really early… and it looks like I’m going to be relaxing for three hours,” Nelson said. 

Just a reminder, checkpoint five is temporarily closed.

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