Portland International Airport Reaches Peak Holiday Travel Season

PORTLAND, OR – Port of Portland officials say that they expect Portland International Airport to serve nearly 20 million passengers this year. Over the next couple of weeks, they say it might feel like they're all there at once.

Officials say that Dec. 20, 21, and 26 are expected to be the busiest of the very busy days ahead.

The airport expects more than 64,000 passengers will pass through the doors on each of those days.

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In all, they expect more than 928,000 passengers during the holiday travel season, which they consider lasting between Dec. 17 and Jan 1.

Airport officials say that they know that travel this time of year can be stressful so they have some tips to make it less so:

AVOID ROADWAY CONGESTION – Picking up someone? Find a spot in the cell phone lot and have someone call you when they're ready to be picked up;

CHECK PARKING BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME – PDX allows you to check parking availability online. Figure out which lots have the most availability so you can cut down on looking for a space;

DON'T WRAP YOUR PRESENTS – You might think that you're saving time by wrapping ahead but if TSA has questions about what's under that wrapping paper, you may have to sit there and unwrap the present;

PHONE BATTERY RUNNING LOW? – It's not as huge a crisis as you might think. The airport has more than 1,400 places where people can plug in. One important thing, they say: sharing is caring; and

ENJOY PDX – The airport has plenty of restaurants as well as plenty of shops that offer what they call "street pricing," where the stores at the airport have the same prices you'll find in the city.

Airport officials say that you can get updates on conditions by checking the website at www.pdx.com or following the airport on Twitter – @flyPDX – or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/flypdx.

Photo via Port of Portland