Busy holiday travel week wraps up at Denver International Airport

DENVER (KDVR) — The Thanksgiving holiday rush is wrapping up, but holiday season travel has only just begun.

Security lines stayed pretty empty most of Sunday, which is still predicted to be the busiest travel day out of the Thanksgiving holiday stretch.

Denver International Airport (DIA) forecasts about 276,000 passengers to travel through TSA checkpoints at the airport on Nov. 26.

Thousands are making the trip back home and some told FOX31 they are hopping on a plane again in about three weeks.

“We’ll be back for Christmas,” Devon Romero, traveling home to Baltimore told FOX31. “Tickets are purchased, plans are set, so we’ll be back too.”

Romero said they booked their tickets early, but they were still expensive.

“Oh gosh, they were pretty absurd,” Romero said. “It’s myself and I’m traveling with my partner, so total for both of us to get here and back was over $1,000 which is pretty wild, but you do what you got to do to see family.”

Here’s the total number of passengers forecasted to pass through TSA checkpoints at Denver International Airport:

A spokesperson with DIA said an exact count will be released later this week.

Clint Henderson, a travel expert with ‘The Points Guy’, advises those still looking to book for Christmas or the New Year to compare dollars to points.

“If you can fly on the holiday sometimes, you’ll save money and beat the crowds as well,” Henderson said. “If it’s this late in the season, you want to book Christmas sooner rather than later. Set Google flight alerts because sometimes you’ll find a deal, so if you see a deal jump on it.”

For the total Thanksgiving holiday travel period, DIA said more than 785,000 passengers are expected to travel through TSA checkpoints at DIA from Nov. 17 through Nov. 27, a 13% increase from this time last year.

“Happy holidays to everyone that’s traveling,” Romero said. “It’s a chaotic time but we’re all doing what we can to see the people we love.”