Making Holiday Travel Bearable

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. -Susan Heller

Travel tips to help you breath a bit easier during your holiday travel experience.

The key for a successful and less stressful trip is to be prepared. By following these five simple suggestions, traveling into or out of HIA, or any airport for that matter, will be easy and convenient:

1) Know the security rules before you pack. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has a 3-1-1 campaign to educate travelers on the carry-on baggage restrictions. For specific details, visit www.tsa.dhs.gov before you pack your bags.

2) Call your airline’s toll-free flight tracking phone number for an update on your flight before coming to the airport. Flight status information is also available on each airline’s website.

3) Arrive at an HIA parking lot about 90-minutes before your schedule departure.

4) Follow the signs and park in the Long Term/Economy lot ($7.00 per day). Shuttle uses run every 8-10 minutes from the numbered shelters in the lot and bring you directly to the terminal building.

5) When picking up or dropping off a passenger, park on the second or third floor of the garage. The garage rate is just $1.10 for the first hour (additional rate information). Federal security mandates prohibit parking along the terminal curbside. Only the active loading and unloading of a vehicle is permitted in front of the terminal building.

Finally, we ask that you remember to bring a smile and be patient. Generally the weather looks good nationwide for the upcoming holiday travel week, however delays can happen at any time. The airlines want to get you to your destination safely and on time, while the TSA has a responsibility to make sure that everyone getting on an aircraft is doing so without any prohibited items.

Have we missed any tips that you think would be helpful to other travelers? We'll include your feedback and suggestions on our travel tips section of our web site as well.