Two-year-old Finley giggled her way through LaGuardia Airport. She and her mother Sherri visited family in Queens for Thanksgiving. So far the pair gives their holiday travel experience a thumbs up.

“It was actually good it was better than you would expect it to be,” Sherri Mozee said.

They headed home to Louisville, Kentucky Sunday morning. And Mozee said seeing the extended family this year meant so much to her after not being able to see them last year due to the coronavirus.

“We have not been since 2019. We came New Year's Eve 2019 because her dad is from here. So this was our first time being back in a year and it was nice,” Mozee said.

Travelers waited in long lines to check their bags.

The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen around 20 million travelers nationwide this Thanksgiving Holiday.

As of Monday, more than 93% of TSA workers had had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, adhering to the vaccine mandate for federal workers.

Some airlines have reported staffing shortages throughout the pandemic, but people we spoke to at LaGuardia didn’t report any complaints.

Christine Marran was taking her son Lorenz to the airport for a flight back to college in Michigan. They made sure to prepare ahead of time.

“So far it looks good we just arrived but it seems like we’ll be in in no time. Thanks to pre-check and e-tickets,” Marran said.

Some people including Mozee were cautiously optimistic about traveling at this point in the pandemic, especially with the emergence of the new omicron variant that was first detected in South Africa.

“We hope we don’t have to wait another year to come up here and that we can come back in a couple months,” Mozee said.
“It’s bittersweet we’re glad we can come but hopefully we can come back sooner.”

TSA officials recommended getting to the airport at least two hours before your flight. If you’re hitting the roads, know that state construction projects have been suspended until Monday morning to lessen holiday traffic.