Travel Tips

Top tips for Dallas travelers going places on the Thanksgiving holiday

We've got tips for Dallas travelers in the air or on the ground.

Photo courtesy of DART

Thanksgiving 2017 is expected to see a record number of people traveling: According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), around 50.9 million people in the United States will travel 50 miles or more.

That represents a 3.3 percent increase from 2016, or 1.6 million people; it's the highest number of travelers since 2005.

The biggest spike occurs in air travel, with a 5 percent increase, or 3.95 million people traveling, between November 22-26.

Armed with information from Dallas Love Field, DART, and other transportation entities, we've compiled all the pertinent info. Read on:

Flying
You'll want to check with your airline for flight departure/arrival status prior to arriving at the airport. Arrive at least 90 minutes to two hours before your flight to allow time for parking, check-in, baggage check, security, and any unplanned events, especially during peak hours.

Airport parking
Love Field has three parking options:

Parking Garage A is closest to Southwest Airlines/Terminal 2: $17/day
Parking Garage B is closest to Continental and Delta Airlines: $13/day
Remote parking is at Love Connection, on the northeast corner of Mockingbird Lane and Harry Hines Boulevard: $6/day. A roundtrip shuttle runs every 15-20 minutes.

The Cell Phone Lot, a lot nearby where you could wait for arriving passengers, has closed. They've shifted that to Express Parking, located in Garage A, which has 60 designated spaces available for up to two hours while waiting for arriving passengers.

The first hour is free in Express Parking and throughout Garage A.

Love Field switched valet parking operations into the under-construction Parking Garage C. With this switch, valet now offers approximately 1,000 spaces, 400 more than before, and returns 600 spaces in Garage B for public parking.

Garage C is not open to the public and will only be utilized by the valet parking staff. Garage C will fully open to the public in late 2018 and bring an additional 5,000 parking spaces.

Parking reservations
Parking lots at DFW Airport often fill up, so you may want to reserve a parking spot via Park 'N Fly. You select your airport, then enter the date and time you expect to arrive. It offers you covered and uncovered options, and lets you pay ahead of time.

Getting a ride
Holiday travelers are encouraged to utilize alternate plans for getting to and from the airport; such as DART; ground transportation (taxis, shuttles, transportation network companies); or convincing a friend or family member to give you a ride.

At Love Field, drop-off and pick-up for passengers is on the upper level, marked Departures/Arrivals, on the upper roadway of Herb Kelleher Way. Dallas police will be onsite to monitor. Ticketing, security, and baggage claim are on the upper level. Ground transportation, including taxis, for-hire shuttles, transportation network companies, and rental car shuttles, is on the lower level.

Taking DART to Love Field
DART Rail's Green Line goes to Dallas Love Field. You get off at the Inwood/Love Field station and catch a Route 524 bus connecting to Love Field. It operates every day from approximately 5:30 am to 1 am. For schedule and fare information, visit www.dart.org/riding/lovefield.

Taking DART to DFW Airport
DART Rail's orange line goes to DFW Airport seven days a week, from 3:50 am to 1:19 am. The DFW Airport Station is located at DFW Airport's Terminal A, Lower Level Curb, Entry A-10.

DART holiday schedule
Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) will see schedule changes on November 23 and 24. Regular scheduled transit service resumes Saturday, November 25.

Thanksgiving Day: DART buses and light rail trains will operate on a Sunday schedule.
Friday, November 24: DART buses and light rail trains will operate on a Saturday schedule.

The TRE will not operate on Thanksgiving Day and will operate Saturday service on Friday. TRE details are at TrinityRailwayExpress.org.

With construction resuming on the Las Colinas Area's Personal Transit System, service will be temporarily provided by DART shuttle buses beginning November 20. The shuttle will not operate November 23 or 24.

Current bus detours remain in effect for routes 1, 29, 31, 36, 42, 211, 346, 347, 409, 486, 510, 535, 547, and 840.

DART Paratransit will operate on a holiday schedule Thanksgiving Day and the day after. The Paratransit Scheduling Center will be closed both days. Regular subscription trips are canceled Thursday and Friday. Customers may call on November 22 to schedule service for November 23-28. Call 214-515-7272.

DART's Customer Information Center will be closed Thanksgiving Day and open Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. The administrative offices, Customer Care Center, and Lost and Found will be closed both Thanksgiving Day and the day after.

A full list of route and schedule modifications can be found at DART.org or by calling 214-979-1111.

transportation traffic holidays

Travel advisory

Top tips to navigate DFW Airport during busy, busy spring break 2026

DFW Airport

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Spring break travel through Dallas Fort Worth International Airport will require some planning and patience for both passengers and their chauffeurs. According to a release, 4.7 million customers are expected to travel to, from, and through the airport during the 2026 spring break travel period, March 5-March 24.

The busiest days (when curbsides and routes in and out of the airport will be most congested) are expected to be the weekends of March 13-16 and March 20-23, they say.

The top three overall busiest days, and volume of customers traveling to, through, or from DFW, are expected to be:

March 15: 262,000
March 22: 259,000
March 13: 253,000

The top five busiest days, and volume of customers beginning or ending their trip at DFW, are expected to be:

March 22: 126,000
March 13: 125,000
March 15: 123,000
March 12: 118,000
March 19: 116,000

"With many North Texas school districts observing spring break during the same week of March 16-20, travel demand will be more concentrated than usual, making it especially important for customers to plan ahead - including prebooking parking, allowing extra travel time and using DFW’s digital tools to help navigate peak conditions," airport officials say in the release.

Terminal curbs and access roadways will experience the highest congestion from late morning hours into the early evening each day, they say. There will also be especially heavy traffic when approaching terminals from the north, they say.

"Terminal C roadway detours remain in place on International Parkway as bridge construction continues," they advise. "Terminal C is only accessible via the southbound entrance from International Parkway. Customers arriving from the sout, will be required to travel northbound past all terminal entrances and take the left-hand U-turn exit before the North Exit Plaza to return to southbound International Parkway. Then, all customers will take the existing left-hand exit to Terminal C."

Here are some tips they give to help make travel through DFW Airport smoother during spring break:

Arrive early: Plan to arrive at least two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights. Using drivetime apps to check traffic conditions will ensure proper planning of transit times needed to park, check-in and clear security screening ahead of departure.

The DFW Airport mobile app, available on iOS and Android, can help provide:

Live parking availability and security wait times.
Terminal-specific alerts and construction updates.
Push notifications for helpful information.

Consider public transit: DART's Silver Line connects Plano to Terminal B with stops in Richardson, Addison, Carrollton and Coppell, while DART’s Orange Line, with service from Plano, downtown Dallas, and Irving provides direct access to Terminal A. Trinity Metro’s TEXRail connects riders to Terminal B. Additionally, Trinity Railway Express (TRE) offers service from Dallas and Fort Worth to CentrePort/DFW Airport Station, with terminal access via the TRE Link shuttle. For details on transit schedules and fares, visit DART or Trinity Metro.

Prebook parking: By prebooking parking online, customers can get the best rates as well as save decision-making time when arriving at the airport. In addition to terminal parking options, Express and Remote parking lots provide quick and convenient shuttle service to every terminal.

Follow curbside rules and parking protocols: DFW officials remind that terminal curbs are reserved for active loading and unloading only. Customers waiting to pick up passengers should use designated free cell phone lots or one-hour parking inside terminal garages.

A perk for AA customers: Customers flying American Airlines may check in at any terminal and go through security at the location with the shortest wait times, then connect to their gate using Skylink. Based on live traffic conditions, access into Terminals A, B and C are typically quickest from the north, while Terminals D and E are generally easiest to access from the south, they advise.

airport airlines tips spring break