U.S. airlines expect 27 million passengers this Thanksgiving week.  The three busiest air travel days are expected to be this Wednesday, and the Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving, when the number of passengers daily as expected to be more than 2.5 million.  The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is expecting a 6 percent increase over the holiday period, while they expect to be up 4 percent over last year overall throughout all airlines.  Sea-Tac expects 102,000 passengers on Wednesday, 97,000 on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and 95,000 on the Monday after that.

 With the airline’s on-time performance through September having a weak 73 percent of flights arriving on time (the worst in 13 years), many are striving to help raise this percentage, along with other aspects to flying this holiday season.  The Bush administration is having the U.S. military make more airspace on the East Coast available for commercial airlines from Wednesday through the 25th of November.  But you can also help yourself by following a few guidelines for making your traveling as quick and easy as possible.

 First, you should prepare by checking in and printing your boarding pass at home from your airline’s website.  You should also double check to make sure you any important documents such as your driver’s license and other government-issued ID.  Another good idea is to arrive at the airport two hours before your flight to allow for traffic delays, time to find parking, and other unseen delays.

 Second, you should pack right and conveniently.  Try to travel with carry-on luggage only, but if you must check a suitcase, be sure to follow these tips.  First, be sure to pack your valuables (such as cameras, jewelry, laptop, etc.) and medications in your carry on, incase there are any complications with your checked luggage.  Also, don’t over pack as most airlines allow each passenger to take only two checked bags weighing no more than 50 lbs each.  Also be sure to luck your luggage with a TSA-approved lock which security screeners are able to open and relock.  And last, if taking any liquids or medicines, be sure to check the list of banned items to make sure you can take them along (you can do this online).

 An extra tip is to be sure to check your flight status and delays and weather problems (which you can do online).  So good luck traveling this Thanksgiving holiday, here’s hoping for few delays and minimal complications.

August has proved to be a frustrating month to travel, and a meter showing the rapid increase in delays of flights throughout the years. In August, nearly 30 percent of the flights were delayed, which ranks as the worst on-time arrival performance since 1995, when they began keeping record. The on-time arrival rate went from 75.8 last year to 71.7 this year. These new delays are increasing customer complaints, which almost doubled to 1,634 in August, compared to the 864 in August of last year.

The government has been listening to the figures and has formulated some plans of action to help decrease the number of delays and complaints. The government is considering forcing carriers to shrink their flight schedules, also considering making them pay more to fly during peak travel periods, but some say this won’t help minimize delays, but merely result in higher fares. Recently Bush signed a spending bill to keep Cabinet departments running at current level through November, so until then, the Congress will try to raise taxes and fees to pay for upgrades to the air traffic control system. With these possibilities, the airlines are battling corporate jets and small plane operators over how they will share the cost.

The airlines and the FAA are also pressing for the building of a satellite-based air traffic control system. This system would cost about $15 billion and take close to 20 years to complete. By year 2025, they predict a double in airline traffic. This control system is known as NextGen, and the FAA already awarded ITT Corporation a $1.8 billion contract to build the first portion of the system. They also have a goal for all planes to be equipped with the navigation technology by the year 2020.

So, if the government and FAA are un-successful, it may prove more difficult to fly with ease. But out of all the bad records recently, a positive one arose; the rates of mishandled baggage fell from 8.1 reports (out of 1,000 passengers) a year ago to 7.6 reports this year. So, at least there’s some light to be found within the flying records this year.