AUSTIN, Texas — With Thanksgiving right around the corner, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is already seeing an increase in travelers this holiday season.
One of the busiest parts of the holiday week so far has been at the airport’s parking lots. By around 2 p.m. Wednesday, all of the economy lots were completely full, while the blue garage was 85% full and the red garage was 75% full.
Once the economy lot filled up, the airport said they would add an overflow lot with a flat rate of $40, by credit card only.
Before heading out to the airport, you can check real-time availability of all the garages by checking through the airport’s website or by calling 512-530-3300.
Another tip the airport has for a smooth process through the security lines is to remember what you can and can’t bring in your luggage. If you want to bring any food back from Thanksgiving, remember that some festive foods like gravy, cranberry sauce and wine must weigh less than 3.4 ounces if they are in a carry on item. They must be in a checked bag if they exceed that.
As always this holiday, the airport is reminding passengers to still arrive early so they don’t miss a flight. Their recommendation is still two and a half hours before a domestic flight and three hours before international flights.
If you have an early flight, the airport says the checkpoints open the earliest at 3 a.m. There also have been some changes to the TSA checkpoints recently that you’ll want to remember. TSA Precheck and CLEAR are only at Checkpoint 2 West and general screening is at Checkpoint 1 and Checkpoint 2 East.
Although the same number of lanes are open, TSA Checkpoint 3 will still remain closed through 2026 for the West Infill and TSA Checkpoint 3 Expansion project.