AUSTIN, Texas — It’s almost Memorial Day weekend and travelers are already preparing, arriving at the airport hours early as suggested by officials at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. 

Paul Martin, an Austinite, arrived six hours before his flight. ABIA does not allow a traveler to check in luggage until four hours before their departure time. 

“Four hours before your flight,” Martin said. “I have about six hours.”

He won’t have to wait long once he gets to the TSA lines, but that wasn’t the case on Tuesday when people missed their flights and lines were out the door. 

ABIA is recommending passengers get to the airport three hours before their departure time, following a power outage at ticket counters earlier this week and a shortage of TSA staff. 

“I had heard that it had been pretty bad. So far, I’m pleased at the moment,” Martin said. 

Representative Lloyd Doggett sent a letter to TSA officials calling the situation “unacceptable” and asking for more staff ahead of an expected record breaking number of travelers for Memorial Day weekend coming through ABIA. 

Rep. Doggett outlined in his letter, travel is expected to increase by 50% and 36,000 passengers are expected to fly through ABIA over the course of the weekend. 

Mike Coughlin, another traveler through ABIA, says he didn’t encounter any issues getting through security just one week before holiday travel was set to begin. 

“It seemed like a normal trip to the airport on a Friday morning,” Coughlin said. “I don’t know what a normal Austin Friday morning is like. As far as any major city I’m used to, it was normal getting here.”