DENVER (KDVR) — Travelers are already changing flight plans ahead of potential storms on Thursday.
Nationwide, the Transportation Security Administration is projecting about 47.7 million passengers will travel from March 7-25.
The mix of spring breakers, vacationers and business travelers hitting Denver International Airport during one of Colorado’s snowiest months could be a recipe for a perfect storm Thursday, but airport officials say they are ready.
“We’ll be prepared,” airport spokesperson Michael Konopasek said. “If we see that something is coming in, we’re going to pretreat the runways to make sure those are ready to go, and if we do get snow, we’ll be ready to remove that snow.”
FOX31 and Channel 2’s director of sales, Marcus Wilkerson, is a frequent flyer.
“I’ve got business plans. I was originally planning to leave on Thursday morning, and then I caught wind of the storm and thought I would change my travel plans ahead of that,” Wilkerson said.
Storm coming? What to do about your flight
Using his airline’s app, Wilkerson switched to the first flight out Thursday morning — exactly what AAA suggests travelers should do.
“We’re telling our travelers ahead of the storm, if you booked a significant travel product, get out early. If you’ve got a connecting flight, get out early. If you can get on the first flight, get out early,” AAA Colorado’s Skyler McKinley said.
McKinley suggests looking at airline travel advisories before Thursday.
“Many of the airlines are offering travel advisories that include a travel waiver,” McKinley said. “United, for example, announced that if you are traveling this period between now and the 17th, and if you brought your ticket before the 10th, they are going to waive your change fees.”
If you cannot act ahead, McKinley said you do not have to have to settle for a voucher for a canceled flight.
“If your flight is canceled for any reason and you choose not to fly, you are owed a refund via cash, credit card, however you paid. You don’t have to accept a voucher — you can take good cash money in the event of a cancellation,” McKinley said. “For a significant delay, generally that disruption will also be covered if you choose not to travel.”
According to McKinley, the term “significant delay” may be loosely defined, but AAA said a good rule of thumb is three hours or more.
FOX31 reached out to TSA ahead of the storm. A spokesperson provided the following statement:
We, along with the airport and airlines, will monitor the weather and adjust our operations accordingly. The biggest thing TSA notices when there is a weather event is the anticipated arrival curve of travelers differs. So, for example, if our projections show an increase in the number of people who need to be screened during the 3 p.m. hour and adverse weather is predicted, travelers may decide to arrive a couple of hours early and then we see a surge of people around 1 p.m.
We are staffed to handle this, but travelers need to know that should every step of the travel process to take longer since many other people are in the same situation. When weather impacts travel or there are many cancellations, it may take a while to catch up operationally.
Also, we are fully staffed with TSA officers, at the level appropriated by Congress. We will flex our staffing to ensure that we are covering the busiest projected times at the security checkpoint during weather events and spring break travel.
It is important for me to note that TSA’s standards for wait times are 30 minutes or less in standard screening and 10 minutes or less in TSA PreCheck. At DEN, TSA is well within those standards.
TSA
The Pinpoint Weather team will be following conditions as the storm approaches. Check back for forecast updates throughout the day.
