ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - Millions of people across the Commonwealth are heading out of town for Thanksgiving.
That included thousands here in Southwest Virginia and after the United States issued a worldwide travel alert following the terrorist attacks in Paris.
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Despite that alert, Wednesday is expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the year.
AAA says the number of Americans catching a plane this Thanksgiving is expected to jump up .1 percent over the last year to about 3.6 million air travelers. Here in Virginia around 1.3 million people are expected to make a holiday journey this year of more than 50 miles.
Roanoke-Blacksburg airport spokesman Brad Boettcher says that will translate here into slightly longer wait times for flights. He recommends getting to the airport at least an hour and a half before departure time to be safe.
But he says there are ways to prepare for going through security to make it go as quickly as possible.
One way is making gifts you may be bringing as accessible as possible to TSA agents.
"If they can't inspect it and determine what's in there, they will unwrap it, so that's just one thing to keep in mind. If you're going to wrap it, you might want to use a little bit of painter's tape or something that will easily come off so if it needs to be inspected by one of the transportation security officers, they have access to do that if they can't tell what it is by looking at it or x-raying it," Boettcher said.
Boettcher also says to save time, it can be helpful to wear slip-on shoes, and always remember not to bring bottles of liquids bigger than 3 ounces.
Costs are also down for those who are flying. According to the travel company, airline tickets are ten percent lower than last year for many frequently traveled routes.