ATLANTA — Millions of Americans are returning home now that the holiday season is a wrap.
Channel 2′s Christian Jennings was at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where travelers who flew during the pandemic are passing through TSA checkpoints.
A TSA spokesperson told Jennings that today is typically one of the busiest days of the year, but it’s hard to predict travel numbers during the pandemic.
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On Saturday, nearly 1.2 million people traveled in the U.S., second only to the number of travelers we saw the Sunday after Christmas. That’s still only about half the amount of people who flew at the same time last year.
Morgan Wrend lives in Atlanta but is from Chicago. She went to visit her family for two weeks over Christmas break.
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“I’ve been gone for almost a year for school, and I wanted to see my family,” Wrend said. “And I know I get to quarantine when I come back for work.”
Wrend said she just wishes there had been space between her and other passengers on her flight home.
“We sat directly next to people on the plane,” Wrend said.
Anne Cuffsmith has been a flight attendant for seven years. She was a bit surprised to see so many people at the airport when the CDC has encouraged people to postpone travel and stay home over the holidays.
“I’ve found that there are a lot of first time fliers,” Cuffsmith said. “Like, a lot.”
She said she does everything she can to protect herself and others while doing her job.
“I pray,” Cuffsmith said. “I double-mask from the beginning.”
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