Terminal Congestion : Season’s Traditional Crunch Starts at Burbank Airport

‘Tis the season to be jolly. . . . Sgt. Joe Amato of the Burbank Airport Police does not find the Thanksgiving kickoff of the holiday season so notably jolly.

There was the rainy day before Thanksgiving two years ago when Amato, attempting to subdue a man beating his wife, got into a brawl that injured Amato’s back so severely he was on disability leave for three months.

“I don’t look forward to this day at all,” Amato said glumly as he directed traffic at the airport on the day before the holiday, traditionally the busiest day of the year at the already congested airport.

Nearly 11,000 passengers--roughly double the daily average--passed through the terminal Wednesday, braving traffic jams and crowds on their way to places such as grandma’s house in Sioux City, Iowa, or home to the wife and kids in Warner Robins, Ga.

Many were not in the cheeriest of moods, but clear weather meant few flying delays and travelers said they were prepared for traffic and crowds. Many even said it was not as bad as they had expected.

“I may eat my words getting out of here, though,” said Richard Campbell of Tarzana as he waited for his son’s flight from Oakland.

Traffic at the airport has steadily increased since April, when Southwest Airlines began a fare war. But airport spokeswoman Elly Mixsell said the crowd Wednesday was about the same size as last year and that the day progressed much more smoothly than in the past.

Baggage handlers and airline ticket clerks were reinforced, as was the staff of airport shuttle drivers to keep people moving between outlying parking lots and the terminal. Mixsell said that although parking in nearby lots was difficult to find, there were plenty of open spaces in airport lots farther away.

Airport Police Chief Tony LoVerme said he increased from two to five the number of officers directing traffic on the terminal’s circular concourse. “It’s like a big wheel,” he said. “We need to keep it turning.”

Follow me in merry measure ...

“Mom,” whined Samantha Dokken. “Come on.”

The 4-year-old was worried that her family--father Russ, mother Jane and sister Ashley--would miss their flight to Denver, even though the boarding line stretched out of the waiting area and into the corridor. The Dokkens ultimately were headed to Sioux City, Iowa, their home until they moved to Newhall three months ago.

Not nearly so eager as Samantha, Leon Boroditsky, 23, a philosophy student at UC Berkeley, sat on the curb outside the terminal reading Foucault’s “History of Sexuality.” His back propped against his gym bag, Boroditsky said his mother from West Hollywood would pick him up after 3 p.m.

He was not sure exactly when. No big deal, though.

“I don’t want to rush,” he said, looking forward to his four-day school break. “That’s not what it should be about.”

Strike the harp and join the chorus ...

Tina Turner’s song “Be Good to Me” blared from the wide-screen television as 30 or so holiday travelers braced themselves for the journey ahead with Bloody Marys and scotch and waters in the airport bar.

Travelers’ nightmares--weather delays, missed transfers--are bartender Dana Bloom’s dreams.

“I love delays and I watched the news and there’s snow in the Midwest,” she said gaily, scurrying the length of the bar in the new aerobic shoes she bought the day before for just this customer crush.

Someone at the bar, apparently bound for the Midwest, groaned.

Concerned about predictions of gridlocked freeways, Kirk Shaw of Westlake Village left several hours before his 5:30 p.m. flight to Phoenix. But the freeways were not nearly as crowded as he had expected. He arrived with three hours to spare, time he spent nursing beers at the bar.

“They’ll have to roll me on the plane,” he joked.

Today and Saturday are expected to be relatively quiet, with a fraction of Wednesday’s crush of passengers returning early. The bulk of crowds will return to the airport Sunday, which Mixsell said will be just as busy as Wednesday.

Fa la la la la, la la la la .