ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Ritchie Watson and his wife spent all day traveling to get to the Albuquerque International Sunport.

“So far we’re skating on thin ice but so far so good. We left Richmond at 6:45 in the morning,” said Richie Wilson.

They joined thousands of other travelers Tuesday, arriving and departing. If you’re flying out of the Sunport, hopefully, it’s as easy for you as it was for Kirsten Trusko.

“People here are so friendly. We’ve lived in New York, San Francisco all over, and it’s grumpy people. But here everybody’s accommodating, they’re smiling,” she said.

She was pleasantly surprised to find a parking spot in the structure so easily, Trusko said.

During holidays past, we’ve seen the Sunport lots fill up in record time. This season is expected to be the busiest season ever, Sunport officials said.

So, this year, it added some extra parking spots.

“We have added about 50 spaces in our premium economy lot and about 216 spaces in our basic economy lot, but we are studying options to improve parking capacity,” said Diana Lopez with the Albuquerque International Sunport.

Travel is expected to be 22% higher than last year, Lopez said.

“Our busiest day during this period is projected to be the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with approximately 20,000 passengers coming through,” she said.

She recommends coming early to avoid delays finding parking or at TSA.

Despite the holiday stress setting in, people were in good spirits.

“Happy Thanksgiving. Be nice to everyone out there. Other people are stressed,” said Trusko.

You can check your flight status here.