ORLANDO, Fla. – For some travelers at Orlando International Airport, Thanksgiving day will be spent on a plane.
Katherine Covel was on vacation in Orlando with friends and decided to fly back home to Las Vegas on Thanksgiving.
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The mother of two said she’s glad to be going home just in time for the holiday and decided to fly back on this day because ticket prices were more appealing.
“To be honest, like the flights were cheaper today,” Covel said. When asked what she was thankful for, her family is what came to mind.
“Well, definitely my two girls. I’m a single mom so spending as much time with them as possible, and then my parents just moved to Vegas so just having that special time; I’m really thankful for my family,” she said.
Covel is one of 110,500 travelers expected to pass through MCO on Thanksgiving Day, according to the airport. It’s the least trafficked day of the 12-day holiday travel period.
The airport is expected to see 1.75 million travelers over those days, which is about the number of travelers the airport saw in 2019.
Mary Hoy said it’s the first time she’ll be spending the holiday flying. She’s going back to Connecticut after vacationing with a friend in Orlando.
“When she said she wanted to go on vacation I gave her — stipulated a certain amount that I would pay for a round trip ticket and this is the way it worked out. Going back on Thanksgiving fit right into my financial billet,” Hoy said.
For Jennifer Beasley and her two little boys, they’re extra thankful because dad is home after a month away for work. They arrived at MCO with a sign to welcome him home after he was away for a month for work.
“It’s gonna be very special. I think he’s gonna be very very surprised not only to see us in here but to see us in here with the sign the boys made,” Beasley said.
Departing flights at MCO were running smoothly with no major delays reported. TSA at terminal A was under a 10-minute wait time.
The airport is expecting 138,100 travelers on Friday, and 165,100 travelers on Saturday.
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