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Busiest holiday season ever expected at Orlando International Airport

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando International Airport officials are expecting almost 3 million travelers to pass through the facility during the holiday season.

Airport officials said last week that the official holiday travel period started Friday and runs through the first week of the new year.

They said it's expected to be the busiest holiday season ever for the airport.

The airport is expecting Dec. 28 to be the busiest day of the season, with a predicted 142,000 passengers coming and going.

Severe weather up north could affect passengers at OIA.

Marsha Blocker arrived at OIA on Sunday to find out her flight was canceled and that Frontier Airlines couldn't get her and her daughters back to St. Louis, Missouri until Thursday.

“I said, ‘No, I can't stay until Thursday. I have no funding to stay in this town until Thursday. Then they said, no vouchers. They didn't put us up in a hotel or nothing," said Blocker said.

Those are the same outcries echoed across social media because of almost 300 flights the airline canceled during the weekend.

"They said we can get you to Chicago, which we're fitting to board at 5:00 today, and now I have to find my way back home from Chicago," Blocker said.

From Dec. 16 through Jan. 6, OIA officials are gearing up for 8 percent more travelers this year than last year.

The TSA has brought in more personnel to try to help keep lines moving.

A Frontier representative said the storm has kept a lot of their pilots and crew from being able to get to flights. So in some instances, a plane would be available but the crew wasn't at the corresponding airport.

The representative said they're just trying to get luggage to people who still don't have it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.