Smooth Flying : Southland Airports Easily Handle Crush of Travelers on Busiest Day of Year

On Wednesday, the busiest travel day of the year, the stuff of cold sweats, of legendary fear and loathing, of wondering whether a dried-out turkey dinner at grandma’s is really worth the hassle, skycap Marlon Shotlow stood next to a half-empty luggage cart, looking downright bored.

“I thought today would be outrageous,” he said. “But it’s not.”

Then he made the most important of observations, a rarely used phrase in the airport lexicon: “Everyone’s in a good mood!”

Go figure.

Indeed, at airports from John Wayne to Charles Lindbergh, from Los Angeles International to Ontario International, the crush of Thanksgiving holiday travelers proved more lamb than lion.

“You hear the horror stories of traveling through LAX, but when you go out and walk around, it’s just not there,” said airport spokeswoman Diane Scully. “Yes, it’s busy--but the traffic is moving.”

In Orange County, John Wayne Airport spokeswoman Pat Ware said, “Everything’s been going at a very brisk pace, but it’s also been very smooth.”

One of the few emergencies among the 25,000 travelers passing through occurred when three passengers panicked after discovering that they had lost their tickets. In each case, airport security officers found the tickets.

Airport officials said that Wednesday’s shipment of families and baggage to far-flung destinations was relatively trouble-free because travelers generally heeded their advice to leave early and take shuttle vans or public transportation to airports.

That kind of time management coupled with good weather nationwide kept 20,000 airline flights moving smoothly on Thanksgiving eve.

Ironically, parking lots at suburban flyaway shuttle lots filled up early Wednesday, leaving parking spaces available at the airports.

Chicago-bound Mary Pasquini called from her Granada Hills home about 5:15 a.m. Wednesday to check on parking at a Van Nuys park-and-ride lot so she and her family could take the express bus to Los Angeles International. They learned that it was full, so they left their car at home and took a cab to catch their bus.

But at the nation’s third-busiest airport, the 22,000 parking spaces have not been filled to capacity in several years, Scully said. And there probably would be spaces available all weekend for those daring to drive to the airport via gridlocked freeways.

Traffic at Burbank Airport was more manageable than ever, said spokesman Victor Gill, thanks to added parking spaces and widened traffic lanes in front of the terminal. “If anything, we’ve gotten our act firmly refined,” he said.

Once inside the terminals--including those in Los Angeles, with more than 125,000 passengers seeking seats on 1,000 planes Wednesday, or at Burbank, with about 15,000 passengers boarding 185 departing flights--the patience of passengers did not appear to be tested.

Air traffic moved smoothly Wednesday, said FAA spokesman Fred O’Donnell. Only in Alaska, where snow slowed operations at Anchorage and Fairbanks airports, was weather a factor.

“What affects operations is weather, and we’ve got excellent weather virtually everywhere,” he said.

So appetites were whetted for a good weekend. Eighteen-year-old Anne Graybeal, a Pomona College student, was preparing to fly from Ontario to mom and dad in Chatham, N.J., for her first home-cooked meal since August. “I’m going to let them pamper me for four days,” she said, smiling.

A few feet away, chomping on a pizza, the college’s dean of students, Ann Quinley, was looking forward to visiting her 86-year-old father in Knoxville, Tenn.--and enjoying a turkey filled with corn bread pecan stuffing.

Sid and Mae Shapiro were waiting for their flight to Sacramento, where their daughter-in-law was going to prepare her first turkey for them.

There were occasional annoyances, though.

Paul and Maryhelen Fisher left Palm Desert for Ontario International in plenty of time to catch their 1 p.m. flight to Reno--only to discover that their flight had been inexplicably changed to 11 a.m. Paul Fisher cooled his heels by thumbing through a book titled “Foreign Investments and International Law” and promised to call the airline president next week.

“Luckily, there’s another flight,” he said. “But I’ve got to wonder, why are we leaving town? We live on a golf course.”

For all the people leaving town, an equal number were arriving in Southern California for the long weekend.

Joe Kailukaitis was in Southern California on business, so he beckoned his wife and two kids from Dallas to join him for skiing at Big Bear. The family figures on eating out tonight.

Richard and Carol Hough arrived at Ontario from Santa Cruz, and loaded their rental car with sports tools for a tennis weekend in Palm Desert. They too will eat out tonight.

And Gene Bloch and his daughter, Vicki, arrived from San Francisco to join his parents for a weekend of boating on Lake Mojave, along the Colorado River north of Laughlin.

Mom’s going to cook? Think again.

“We’ll take our 22-footer downriver 25 miles,” said Nancy Bloch. “We’ve already got reservations at Katherine’s Landing.”

Airport workers who will be at their posts today will still enjoy Thanksgiving feasts.

Jacqueline Taylor, working at a rental car counter at Ontario Airport, has assigned her husband, Michael, to do the cooking while she handles today’s demands for vans and cars.

“And I’m going to have to call him every half an hour to remind him to baste the turkey,” she said. “Otherwise, he’ll just sit there and watch football and forget.”

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Chip Johnson in Chatsworth and Tony Perry in San Diego, and Times correspondent Tom Ragan in Orange County.