How to Avoid a Holiday Travel Nightmare

Dec. 17, 2007— -- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the nation's airports.

Forty-seven million passengers will fly globally in the next 21 days, according to the Air Transport Association (ATA), the industry trade organization that represents the leading U.S. airlines. This number is comparable to last year's heavy holiday traffic.

Airports are doing their part by bulking up on staff and adding stations and self-service kiosks to speed up service. Airports are providing passengers with minute-by-minute notice of delays and delivering travel updates via e-mail up to 24 hours in advance. Some are even offering travel updates via text message.

Amy Ziff, an editor at Travelocity, said, "I think the biggest mistake travelers make is not being prepared and not really anticipating all of the things that could possibly go wrong."

What can you do to prepare for the full planes, masses of people and treacherous winter weather?

Here are some tips and handy resources to help you navigate through the holiday crush at the airports.

If you have a choice, travel during off-peak days.

The peak travel times are expected to be the days after Christmas and New Years -- on Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 26 and 27, as well as Wednesday, Jan. 2. Friday, Dec. 21, is also expected to be one of the busiest days.

The least busy days are expected on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with an estimated average of 1.9 million passengers.

Check the air traffic controllers delay site for top 10 lists of the most delayed flights and worst times to fly into certain airports.

The airlines expect 26 million pieces of checked luggage this holiday -- and tens of thousands of them will be lost or delayed.

Traveler Jenn Enloe isn't taking any chances. She's using the luggage shipping service "Luggage Free" to ship her bags, spending a whopping $300 to send them ahead to Europe.

"It just makes life so much easier, it takes a lot of the stress out of travel." Enloe said.