John Wayne Airport Employees Prepare for Holiday Hordes : Travel: Day before Thanksgiving is traditionally the year’s busiest. Outgoing flights are nearly all booked, and rental cars have all been spoken for.

Welcome to Black Wednesday, as this, unfailingly the busiest day of the year, is known to those in air travel.

“It is a challenge,” said Walter Bialorke, 48, a customer service agent for USAir at John Wayne Airport. “Like an athlete, you prepare all year for it. If you aren’t prepared, you will be left behind in the dust.”

Skycap Dennis German agreed, “It is going to be like a zoo.”

As the pace began to quicken Tuesday, ticket salespeople, baggage handlers, taxicab drivers, skycaps and other workers were bracing for the onslaught.

By midday Tuesday, all the long-term parking next to the terminal was full. William A. Pemberton, chief of landside operations at the airport, said signs had been posted in the community directing people to additional long-term parking on Main Street in Irvine, more than a mile away.

People who park there will be served by airport shuttle buses running every 15 minutes, he said. If that lot fills, he said, another 700 cars can fit at an annex lot nearby on Skypark Circle.

Pemberton said he expected 10% to 15% more airport traffic than last year, in part because of the addition of Southwest Airlines.

Pemberton said he believes Thanksgiving is more popular than Christmas for cross-country family reunions, because the weather is more favorable.

Weather forecasters, in fact, said the holiday will be mostly sunny in Orange County, and travelers leaving John Wayne will encounter clear skies almost everywhere.

“It is a good travel day from coast to coast,” said Dean Jones, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., a private forecasting firm.

The airport chaos of Thanksgiving eve, seasoned airport workers say, is caused more by the kind of travelers who take to the skies than their sheer numbers.

Bialorke said John Wayne Airport usually serves business travelers who know their way to gates and are knowledgeable about departure and arrival schedules. But today, he said, airport staff will work harder to steer infrequent fliers.

“There will be an overabundance of people who need to stop and ask questions,” he said.

Air travelers also would have been wise to make preparations by buying tickets and reserving rental cars in advance, airport workers said.

At Southwest Airlines, “almost every flight is booked up” through Thanksgiving morning, said Cheryl Hoban, the airline’s area marketing manager.

In anticipation of extraordinarily long lines at check-in counters, Hoban said, the airline recommends that its customers arrive today 95 minutes before their scheduled departure, rather than the customary hour.

Travelers arriving in Orange County will be flocking to car rental agencies.

“There are no cars available without reservations,” said Phil Forbes, a reservation agent for Hertz. Minivans, which are especially popular for families, have been completely booked at all the agencies, he added.

Ralph Still, a 46-year-old taxicab driver from Tustin, said he normally makes eight to 12 trips each day to the airport. But today he expects to make at least 30 runs, and to face fearsome traffic snarls both at the loading curbs and on the freeway.

“It is going to be a battle all day long,” Still predicted. The hard work, he said, will probably be offset by the tips, which usually are generous during the Thanksgiving holiday.

“I’ll go home with a lot of money, that’s for sure. But I’ll need Thanksgiving to recuperate,” he said.