How to avoid flying fiascos

The holiday travel season is underway, and Rochester International Airport is preparing for the hustle and bustle of passengers rushing to get on their flights.

"The airline counters are fully staffed," said Carol Worth of the Transportation Security Administration. "We're ready, and we're prepared."

And TSA officials say you should be too if you want to avoid delaying your Thanksgiving feast with the family.

"I got an early start to hopefully make it on time," said Montrose Streeter, who was at the airport Tuesday morning catching a flight to North Carolina.

Getting an early start is one way to keep airport worries to a minimum. Worth says if you follow the department's new "simplifly" plan, you could be downing turkey and gravy sooner rather than later.

    
"Put your shoes in one layer, your clothes in another layer, and any electronics wrap tightly with the cords in a separate layer," she said. "It makes it much quicker to process your bag."

And don't forget to keep those liquids, gels and aerosals in containers 3.4 ounces or less to save time.

Passengers waited up to 45 minutes to get their bags checked and to get through security Monday, but Tuesday life at the airport ran a little bit smoother.

"It's been under 10 minutes," Worth said.

And many passengers say that may be because they "simpliflied" before hitting the skies.

"We planned it pretty well," said Shannon Cary, who was flying to Florida. "We planned to travel early to save a little bit of cost."

"We packed an extra bag," said Janine Downes of Syracuse, who was traveling with her husband and children. "We can have our swimsuits out today just in case we didn't have access and the luggage was gone."