Employees at Louis Armstrong New Orleans Worldwide Airport have ready for the excessive quantity of vacationers this vacation season by introducing some parking choices.
NEW ORLEANS — With greater than four.5 million passengers screened by means of the primary two days of the Thanksgiving journey interval, federal journey officers challenge that air journey will strategy pre-pandemic ranges.
The workers at Louis Armstrong New Orleans Worldwide Airport ready for the excessive quantity of vacationers this vacation season by introducing some passenger parking choices.
Valet service is now accessible on the gate for $36 per day. There’s additionally a brand new web site the place you possibly can pay and reserve your parking spot earlier than you arrive.
Whereas there have been no widespread experiences of cancellations or delays, MSY officers encourage you to reach early no matter whenever you journey.
Erin Burns, Director of Communications, mentioned: “With all these individuals coming into the ability, we simply need to remind passengers to be affected person. Please permit loads of time to get by means of the airport and thru the safety checkpoint, then onto your boarding gate.”
Some passengers say they headed to the airport early, however had been stunned to search out little to no strains on the check-in and TSA ticket areas.
Darien Coutu, who was touring to Oregon, mentioned: “We received right here two hours early. We anticipated it to take perpetually, however I feel we’ll find yourself sitting on the door for some time. We anticipated it to take perpetually, however I feel we will find yourself sitting on the door. for some time”.
Whereas most individuals undergo TSA with out a downside, there are some issues. The state of Louisiana is among the many prime 10 states for the best variety of passengers bringing weapons into the airport.
Sari Koshetz, TSA spokeswoman, mentioned: “Final 12 months we prevented 119 firearms from passing by means of the checkpoint and being within the possession of one other passenger. This 12 months thus far, we now have stopped 77 weapons, and the pattern is a bit decrease than it was on the identical time final 12 months. It is nonetheless too excessive and too harmful a quantity.”
In case you want to journey together with your weapon, it have to be authorised by the airline you fly with, unloaded in a tough case, and in your checked baggage. Nonetheless, Koshetz says the foundations for touring with a gun aren’t the identical all over the place.
“It’s your accountability to know what the legislation is on the opposite facet of your journey as a result of, the truth is, you might not be capable of have that weapon in any respect on the opposite facet of your journey,” Koshetz mentioned. “The high quality for passing a gun by means of a TSA checkpoint is $13,000 and you might go to jail as a substitute of your trip. We’re stopping extra weapons this 12 months than final 12 months, sadly the pattern continues to rise “.
TSA brokers are additionally educated to detect prohibited objects which can be hid. In latest weeks, TSA brokers have seized a pen that was really a tazer and a comb that was really a knife. He encourages vacationers to examine their luggage earlier than heading to the airport, and when going by means of TSA, Koshetz mentioned he ought to keep in mind to take all of his objects out of the bins.
“It is fairly superb what number of objects passengers depart behind and find yourself within the misplaced and located as a result of they emptied every little thing into the bin and never their carry-on,” Koshetz mentioned.
Koshetz says one solution to keep away from the lengthy strains is to join TSA pre-checking.
