CLEVELAND — A steady line at both the ticket counters and TSA precheck Monday at Cleveland Hopkins Airport was on par with predictions of heavy travel over Memorial Day weekend.
We talked with a few passengers who didn't take any chances on getting to the airport early, like Jay Brooks, who was traveling back to Chicago.
"Typically, I'm like the late guy, last-minute, throw everything in a bag and go to the airport with 30 minutes before the door closed, that's me. But this time? I didn't even want to play around," Brooks said.
That's probably because AAA said this Memorial Day weekend was the busiest for air travel in 20 years. In fact, TSA screened nearly 3-million people nationwide on Friday, breaking the agency's record for the most travelers passing through security in one day.
"That's why I came early for my flight. My flight is delayed, so now I'm going to be here even longer," said Michale McGee.
McGee is from Cleveland but lives in L.A., where she first saw the impact of the holiday travel.
"I left California Thursday night, and at LAX, the security was a nightmare. The line was wrapped in a way that I've never seen before," she said.
TSA says from Thursday to Sunday, more than 18-million passengers and crew were screened.
Beth Black was traveling to Dublin, Ireland, with her family on Monday. They got to the airport hours ahead of time.
"Just with International travel it recommends three hours in advance," she said.
AAA says of the forecasted 44-million people traveling over the holiday weekend, a large portion of them are traveling by car.
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