This Is The Most Crowded Airport In America During The Holidays And It's Not Even Close

We're in the midst of the busy holiday travel season, which means congested airports, and one of the busiest airports in the world is set to once again be the busiest for the holiday season. The Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport sees nearly nine million people traveling through each month. Just during the week of Thanksgiving 2024, Hopper, a travel agency and app, reported that the airport had a whooping 1.9+ million passengers departing from Atlanta. Dallas Fort-Worth airport (one of the most complained about American airports) came in second with 1.5 million travelers.

While these numbers include the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is the busiest travel day of the year, the days before and after Christmas are also popular with travelers. In 2023, Atlanta had around 3.3 million travelers using the airport in the week after Christmas. There's no sign of things slowing down at the Atlanta airport, so if you're going to be flying through this crowded destination, be mentally and emotionally prepared to deal with lots of people.

With all the airport crowds during the holidays, particularly at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, make sure you know all the best airport hacks for zipping through TSA. Anything you can do to make things easier on yourself and your fellow travelers will make the overall experience that much better. The crowds may also inspire you to get TSA Precheck or Global Entry — which one to get depends on the type of traveler that you are – but they both should help you get through the security lines faster.

There's no predicting the weather that could cause troubles with your holiday travel; even if it's clear and calm in Atlanta, weather in other parts of the country could cause knock-on effects that throw off the scheduling. So check your flight before you head to the airport. And while it's always important to make sure you arrive with plenty of time to get through security and even more time if you have bags to check. Give yourself even more time than usual if you're leaving out of Atlanta at the holidays. Budget at least 2.5 hours for domestic flights, and don't forget to budget for the time it takes to get from a parking area to the terminal itself.