LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With school out and summer travel underway, passengers may expect more obstacles than usual when heading to the airport.
Tori Banks, manager of the Starbucks at Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, has had a front-row seat to the effects of the lines.
“It’s just so many people ordering things. But of course we keep everything stocked up and stuff like that so that we can always serve the customers properly. But we’ve just been running out fast,” Banks said.
Banks has worked at the airport coffee shop since December and says the store has been pretty busy since Derby. The longer-than-usual TSA lines are leading to an increase in customers.
“It hasn’t slowed down at all since and that has increased our sales tremendously because people are waiting longer in lines and they want to be able to drink something while they’re waiting.”
Airport officials say air travel is up 22% compared to last year. That means longer lines at airline check-in stations and TSA checkpoints, as well as fewer parking spots.
“When I got here, I dropped my wife off and went to park the car. The parking lots were full lines and the outside parking was long term and also the indoor parking was totally closed,” said Tom Campbell, a traveler making his way through the airport Wednesday. “There was a security guard at one gate and he sent me to another location that I wasn’t even aware of.”
To support the influx of travelers, the airport opened its Express Shuttle Parking Lot this week, which was previously temporarily closed.
There are now five different parking options for travelers starting from $* a day. The airport says the busiest time of day is between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m.
Travelers are encouraged to show up at least two and a half hours before their flight.
“Our busiest times of the day are like five in the morning and eight in the morning and then two o’clock in the afternoon, but we do stay steady,” Banks said.
TSA is aware of the high volume of travelers and are staffed to have all five screening lanes operating at maximum capacity.
But the long lines seem to encourage coffee consumption.
“We usually have two baristas up front and then it’s turned into like three or four baristas up here, also increasing the amount of inventory that we have to order. Instead of us having to order like twice a month, we’ve been ordering like three times a month. At least once a week I’ve been putting in food and our products,” Banks explained.
Travelers can expect to encounter these difficulties until September.
The airport is planning to add a sixth TSA line in August. In about a year, the airport hopes to start on a checkpoint expansion to help ease the long lines.