Thanksgiving Eve brought frustrating standstill traffic to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), where heavy holiday travel combined with ongoing road construction created hours of gridlock for travelers struggling to make their flights.
CBS News Texas crews captured bumper-to-bumper traffic stretching from the airport toll plaza to the terminal roads, showing vehicles weaving through narrow lanes, merging into construction detours, and in some cases coming to a complete stop. The congestion grew so severe that some travelers abandoned their rides before reaching the terminals, jogging through traffic and hauling their luggage on foot.
One traveler, who preferred not to be identified, described the ordeal after finally reaching the terminal. "It was a lot, it was tough, it was tough getting to the airport, it was tough trying to get through, it was tough getting bags," he said, summing up the grueling process from curb to check-in.
Around midday, CBS News Texas reported that it took more than 30 minutes to travel from the toll plaza to Terminal C, a normally short drive slowed dramatically by lane closures and holiday volume. According to one airport employee, the slowdowns caused numerous passengers to miss scheduled flights.
John and Inalee Sell described how chaotic the drive became. "It was slow," they explained. "A lot of people coming in and out of the lanes, some people looking like they were going to smush right into you if you didn't get out of the way."
The construction work, part of a multi-year roadway improvement effort at DFW, is expected to continue into 2026, forcing drivers to navigate shifting traffic patterns during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
Some passengers tried to defend against delays by arriving far earlier than usual. Margaret Braswell-Donoho, flying to Alaska to visit her daughter, arrived three hours before her scheduled departure and still faced heavy congestion.
"Coming into the service roads, coming into the airport, they were packed. They were really packed," she said. Her advice to fellow passengers: plan ahead and stay calm. "Be prepared and just leave early and be nice. You know airport make people cranky and it only takes one smile to make another person smile."
DFW Airport anticipates more than 3 million passengers over the Thanksgiving travel period, with an expected peak of approximately 269,000 travelers on Sunday, likely compounding existing traffic issues.
Airport officials encourage flyers to consider alternatives that bypass construction chokepoints. "We want you to consider plans that you haven't before, so that might be taking public transit to the airport," said Rob Himler, the airport’s senior manager of construction communications. "So, you can avoid the holiday traffic and the holiday bustle here at the airport."
With record-setting holiday travelers, ongoing construction, and increased roadway congestion, officials stress that patience and early planning could be the only way for passengers to avoid missing flights this holiday season.
Originally reported by Marissa Armas, Doug Myers in CBS News.
