Las Vegas airport has an all-hands-on-deck approach to Super Bowl crowds
Published 7:53 am Thursday, February 8, 2024
- Travelers pass through the Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport on a regular day.
While many associate Super Bowl crowds with the area around the stadium and downtown sports bars, the chaos actually begins before the people come into the city.
With the final Super Bowl LVIII square-off between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers taking place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas this Sunday, the city’s Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) is already dealing with some of the highest traffic it’s seen in years.
Related: ‘Look what you made us do’: Airlines add new Swift and Kelce flights ahead of Super Bowl
As Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson Lorie Dankers explained in an interview to the Points Guy, the agency has called in hundreds of officers from across the country in order to help with the more than 330,000 visitors who are expected to pass through LAS on the days between Feb. 8 and 12.
Image source: Shutterstock
Here is what airport and TSA authorities are doing to prevent airport chaos
Airport officials have also specifically called in dogs trained to detect explosives and their handlers from 20 different airports across the U.S.
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“TSA is working closely with other DHS agencies to coordinate efforts and ensure that, collectively, it is a safe and secure environment for anyone who is in the Las Vegas metro area leading up to and during the Super Bowl festivities,” Dankers said in a statement.
The officers will be assigned to different parts of the airport depending on how many flights are coming in or leaving on a given day. After the two teams were announced, airlines such as Delta (DAL) , United (UAL) and American Airlines (AAL) have added more than 60 flights to shuttle fans into Las Vegas for the big day — many even named these one-time flights with numbers that combine star Chiefs player Travis Kelce’s jersey and references to his girlfriend Taylor Swift.
These are the ‘single busiest days’ for Las Vegas arrivals and departures
“We know that Thursday, Friday and Saturday leading up to the game will be the busiest for arrivals and that Monday will be the busiest single day for departures,” Las Vegas International Airport spokesperson Heidi Hayes said in a statement.
While many of the actions taken by airport authorities and law enforcement have to do with preventing terrorism by spotting problems before they occur, Hayes also said that they “want to get the fans excited as soon as they step off the plane.”
To do that, they have installed numerous installations and other decorations related to the Super Bowl including a big Super Bowl LVIII sign in the official purple-and-red colors as well as Las Vegas showgirls who greet travelers passing through the airport with bags of team swag.
Some hotels that expect to see high numbers of fans coming in have also been allowed to install check-in counters at the airport in order to give guests the chance to get their key before they even arrive and bring down lines on the premises itself.
“We’ve added activations to greet those visitors and get them pumped for the weekend,” Hayes said.
More travel tips and a rundown of the different features installed specifically for Super Bowl weekend have been published in an airport video.