JIA says more than 10K passengers are flying out of Jax for Thanksgiving

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — According to AAA, air travel is nearly 8% higher than it was last year. An estimated 4.5 million people are flying to their Thanksgiving destinations.

Jacksonville International Airport says tens of thousands of people are flying out for Thanksgiving.

JIA leaders say they will have more than 10,000 passengers flying out of the airport every day this week for the Thanksgiving holiday. Here’s everything you need to know to make sure you catch your flight.

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JIA says all passengers should get to the terminal at least two hours prior to their departure time. This way passengers can park, get their bags checked and make it through security.

A notice on a shuttle bus stop for Economy Lot 1 says the shuttle system should operate every 10 to 15 minutes between Economy Lot 1 and the JIA terminal. Action News Jax’s Princess Jhane Stepherson was on the scene and decided to park in Lot 1 and test this out. This is where she met Alejandra.

“We’re flying to Chicago to see family, my brother, he lives there,” says Alejandra Dehoyos.

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Princess reported that this shuttle took about 11 minutes to pick her up. After 3 more shuttle stops, it took just under 8 minutes, making it about a 17-minute commute from the parking lot to JIA’s terminal.

“We’re here 2 hours early, we decided to make it early just in case anything happens with TSA,” says Alejandra Dehoyas.

JIA has 9,621 parking spots and says all lots are currently open but urges passengers to grab a spot as soon as possible before each lot gets full. If all airport lots reach capacity, you can park at Airport Road about a mile and half up the street and get a rideshare.

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“I looked at it in advance and it’s supposed to be $8 a day for the economy lot, it was the cheapest we could find so it’s what we went with,” says Dehoyas.

Here’s a list of Jax Airport’s parking options along with their daily rates. Please note that when you do park, you’ll need to bring your credit card, no other payment form is accepted.

-Hourly garage: $24

-Daily garage: $20

-Daily surface lot: $14

-Economy lot: 1 $8

-Economy lot: 2 $8

-Economy lot: 3 $5

-Valet parking $28 per 24-hour period/ $32 for oversized cars per 24-hour period

Although JIA says all lots are open some passengers have noticed they cannot enter Economy Lot 3. JIA says Economy Lot 3 only opens when Economy Lots 1 and 2 are full.

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