What to expect at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport for MEA travel: TSA staffing, new FLEX lane
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is bracing for an influx of passengers, fueled in part by the statewide MEA week.
The ongoing government shutdown has led to delays at several airports across the country, but officials with MSP Airport say the local impact has been "minimal."
That'll be put to the test for MEA weekend, when the number of travelers passing through Transportation Security Administration lines is expected to increase 19% compared to average. Last year, a record 300,000 travelers went through the airport for the weekend.
Airport officials say the busiest day is forecasted to be Thursday, with 52,000 people expected to go through security.
"While there have been minimal impacts so far at MSP, passengers may experience delays and longer wait times wherever they fly in the days ahead," said Brian Ryks, CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates MSP.
The airlines and the airports commission have increased staffing levels to help reduce wait times. Still, in order to make sure passengers don't miss their flights, officials recommend arriving two hours before a domestic departure and three hours prior to an international trip.
In order to help with the rush of passengers, the airport is debuting a new drop-off and pickup lane at Terminal 1.
Dubbed the "FLEX Lane," the route is on the left side of the Terminal 1 departures drive. Passengers can access the terminal by going through doors five through eight, traveling up a flight either by escalator or elevator, and then walking through a short skyway.
Dylan Koncan and his family, who are traveling to Spokane, Washington, for the weekend, said they were pleasantly surprised to see the airport so calm on Wednesday.
"Surprisingly better than I thought," Koncan said. "I thought it was going to be way busy so we came here a little bit earlier than normal but operation as normal it looks like."
To make travel smooth, officials also recommend reserving a spot in the security line in advance, prebooking parking and checking security wait times for both checkpoints, as the North site often has shorter wait times.