Spokane International Airport busy with holiday travelers

SPOKANE, Wash. — The weekend started early for thousands of travelers at Spokane International Thursday.

“We didn’t think Thursday was going to be this bad,” said Ryan Robinson, who was waiting in the crammed TSA line with his wife Jessica.

More than a few people were slightly alarmed at how busy things were at GEG. That’s what happens when you combine a growing airport with a major holiday weekend.

Southwest, for example, is pretty much maxed out.

“Starting tomorrow, uh, our flights will be full,” said Tom Stanley of Southwest. “You may find a flight or two that has one open seat, but for the most part they will be full.”

Spokane International continues to add flights year over year – and the demand is certainly there.

Over the last four years, scheduled seats out of the Lilac City has skyrocketed. In 2015, the month of May saw 151,000 – compare that to nearly 203,000 this month.

It’s a growth that management is taking into consideration.

“We’re starting to feel some capacity strains,” explained Todd Woodard of Spokane International. “Not only in our passenger security checkpoints, but also at our parking facilities. We’re working rapidly to address the parking.”

All things considered, Spokane International remains a very manageable mid market airport – that said, don’t start your long weekend on a stressful note.

“We encourage people to get here 90 minutes ahead of schedule. 30 minutes to find a parking spot and transit into the building. Another 30 minutes to get through ticketing and baggage check. And another 30 minutes to get through TSA.”

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