What to expect if you’re traveling this holiday season

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Ticket counters, lines, waiting.

It’s the norm for traveling during the holidays.

“When you get to Houston and some of the larger airports that you’re connecting through, you can expect a significant number of travelers,” said Executive Director over at Lake Charles Regional Airport Heath Allen.

But smaller airports, like Lake Charles Regional Airport, aren’t expecting a frenzy.

“Our staff will be at pretty much the same level at which we’ve had before they can handle the flights that we have today on full flights, and that’s what we would expect for the holidays, as well,” he said. “So they’ll be fully staffed, and we’ll be ready to go.”

But Allen says you may still find a full parking lot, calling it one of their biggest challenges.

“We’ve actually implemented a plan where we’re adding 30 spaces to our parking lot,” he said. “That was something that we figured out that we can do without having to add any additional pavement.”

If you are flying from Lake Charles this holiday season, here’s what you might notice.

“You can expect full flights, and I would, I would recommend arriving early, just because it’s extremely important right now, to arrive early. Make sure you get on your flight.”

With United Airlines making headlines this week following the suspension of some of its routes, while he tells me it didn’t affect them, he says they’re keeping a close eye on it.

“Obviously, it’s very much a concern,” he said. “When you look at those markets, they were all small markets. Certainly, there were some similarities in the size of markets and the distance from the Houston hub that Lake Charles has.”

When it comes to the industry as a whole, he tells us they are expecting a very busy travel industry.

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