MCO faces busiest day expected of Thanksgiving travel period

ORLANDO, Fla. – Nearly two million travelers are estimated to pass through Orlando International Airport during the Thanksgiving travel period and Sunday was expected to be the busiest day of them all.

Airport officials have the Thanksgiving travel period running from Nov. 22 to Dec. 3, 2024.

On Sunday, MCO is expecting 181,688 more people to pass through the airport.

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News 6 spoke to the Nalley family on Sunday. They spent their Thanksgiving on a cruise and were returning home to Nashville.

Tiffany Nalley said they planned ahead for this year.

“Last year we flew in at the same time, and the lines for TSA were long,” Nalley said.

They took their travel prep a step further.

“We both even got TSA PreCheck this year to try and beat the crowd,” Nalley said.

The Nalleys arrived four hours ahead of their flight on Sunday to make sure they had plenty of time to get through security.

“As soon as we finish our coffee, we’ll jump in, get a quick bite to eat then head on down to the teriminal and wait our turn,” Nalley said.

But not all are departing MCO.

Some are coming back to Central Florida after Thanksgiving, like Joshua Hanson and Logan Maran, who are both heading back to school after the break.

“I’m originally from Maryland, so I flew out of BWI,” Hanson said. “When I got there this morning, like when I was getting dropped off at the departure gate, it was pretty, pretty busy. Security wasn’t terrible. There wasn’t a lot of people. So I was expecting there to be a little more more travel. I was shocked.”

Maran said he prefers to take red-eye flights to avoid any issues.

“I think it’s just easier to travel by night,” Maran said. “I did an over flight from LAX. It’s just easier to travel by night more than early in the day just because of the traffic and other stuff in between.”

MCO is encouraging travelers to follow the “3-2-1 rule:” Passengers should get to the ticket counter three hours before their flight, at the checkpoint two hours before and at the gate one hour before departure.

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