Long weekend's wanderlust immune to threat, gas prices
By JEAN HELLER
Published May 28, 2004
It appears people aren't going to let things like $2-a-gallon gasoline and renewed terrorism threats stand in the way of holiday weekend travel plans.
Officials at area airports expect throngs to clog parking facilities and security lines, and the AAA Auto Club South forecasts that nearly 1.8-million Floridians will go somewhere over the long weekend, either by car or by plane.
In Florida, 1.6-million people are expected to drive somewhere, despite the fact gasoline is more than 50 cents a gallon higher than the average $1.53 motorists paid for unleaded regular last Memorial Day weekend.
Another 180,000 will fly this weekend, the auto club said.
This represents a 3 percent increase in road travel and a 6 percent increase in air travel by Floridians over last year.
While a lot of those traveling in Florida will head for the beaches, others might be tempted to have their holiday fun indoors in air conditioning. Temperatures in the Tampa Bay area are expected to climb into the 90s with only the smallest chance of rain through Monday.
Across the country, 36.9-million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home this holiday, up 3.6 percent from last year.
"There's no doubt that consumers who had chosen to stay on the sidelines last year are excited about making plans this year," said Kevin Bakewell, senior vice president of AAA Auto Club South.
Those traveling Florida interstates will get a break from construction delays. Work is scheduled to stop this morning, and lane closures will not resume until Tuesday night.
"We have to be mindful of people leaving and returning," said John McShaffrey, the Florida Department of Transportation's spokesman for interstate construction. "A lot of people will be leaving Friday and coming back on Tuesday."
Those on the roads will get a break, but those flying might not.
"I expect it to be heavy for the next 100 days, starting with the Memorial Day weekend and ending at Labor Day," said Dario Compain, federal security director at Tampa International Airport.
In the past several months, with passenger traffic at TIA was higher than before the terrorist attacks of 2001, running the security gantlet there has taken an hour or more during peak travel periods. Backups could occur again this weekend.
Officials offered these tips to speed up the process:
Don't cram carry-ons full of clothes and accessories, making it harder for a screener to search. Before you get to screening, take all metal out of your pockets, remove all jewelry and put them in a bag in your carry-on. Wear sandals so you don't have to remove shoes. Leave big belt buckles at home.
Take laptops out of their bags and send them through the X-ray equipment in their own baskets.
Go to the TSA's Web site, www.tsa.gov The list of what is and isn't allowed in carry-on baggage has changed. But you can be pretty sure that if you have a knife or anything else that could be used as a weapon, it won't get on the plane with you.
Leave plenty of time to look for parking and still get to the terminals at both TIA and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport well in advance of your flight. TIA's long-term parking garage has been filling up quickly, as has the close-in lot at St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Parking in the remote lot at either airport will take extra time.
