Chill out and cheer up: Travel season is here
If you were stuck at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport during last year’s December ice storm, it probably wasn’t your top priority to be entertained by Stringbini, a singing clown.
Still, he was there doing his clown-singing best, because airports these days want to do as much as they can to make the travel experience a happy one for their customers.
And at DFW for the busy holiday travel season that began Wednesday and lasts through Jan. 4, that’s expected to mean about 3.2 million airline passengers, up 2.4 percent from last year, the airport says.
Highways also will be busier this year, at least in part because of a sharp drop in gasoline prices.
AAA Texas predicts that 8.1 million Texans will travel 50 miles or more away from home during the holiday period, 7.5 million of them by automobile.
That’s the highest growth rate for the holiday since 2009 and the highest travel volume for the holiday period on record, AAA Texas says.
The travel-services organization says average gasoline prices in Texas are down 78 cents a gallon from this time last year, a drop of nearly 25 percent.
AAA says drivers nationwide are saving more than $400 million a day because of the lower gas prices. The cost at the pump is expected to stay down well into the new year.
In Texas, drivers are paying the least in the Panhandle, around Amarillo, and most along the Gulf Coast, around Corpus Christi. Go figure why that’s the case, since so many refineries are along the coast.
The bottom line is a lot of people are traveling this time of year.
DFW says it has completed more of the work in its $2.69 billion Terminal Renewal and Improvement Program, including 44 newly renovated gates in Terminals A, B and E, new checkpoints and ticketing areas and a red-light/green-light parking guidance system in the Terminal D garage.
The airport also has a “Cheer Starts Here” campaign to lighten travelers’ moods during the holidays.
No word on whether Stringbini is back for another comedy tour.
This story was originally published December 19, 2014 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Chill out and cheer up: Travel season is here."