Denver airport prepares for Thanksgiving travel surge

• At least 73 million people, aka 90% of all Thanksgiving travelers, will go by car.

Yes, but: Don't expect empty airports.

• Denver International Airport is expecting a surge in holiday fliers, with more than 845,000 passengers estimated between last Friday and Dec. 1 — up 10% from last year.
• The airport predicts the busiest travel day will be Sunday, though Tuesday and Saturday are also predicted to be packed.
• United Airlines, DIA's largest carrier, expects to see more than 600,000 people flying from Denver alone. To meet demand, the airline said it increased its red-eye flights the weekend after Thanksgiving and added 40-plus round-trip flights Saturday and Sunday.

Zoom in: Traffic will likely be heaviest on northbound Interstate 25 from Pueblo to Denver around 5:30pm Tuesday, per INRIX, a traffic analytics company cited by AAA.

• Expect the trip to take about three hours — a 64% jump in congestion.

Pro tips for fliers: You can reserve parking at DIA and check real-time parking availability online.

• You can also reserve a dedicated time slot through DIA's west security checkpoint and check live security wait times.