It is one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season and thousands of people are expected to pass through the terminals at Calgary International Airport on Friday.

An estimated 47,000 people are expected to go through arrivals and departures and officials say they are ready for the rush.

Officials are suggesting passengers arrive early and to make sure they are familiar with baggage allowances and security procedures.

“We try to book cabs and taxis ahead and we book our flights months ahead and we get here early and wait just in case if anything happens,” said Cordelia  Nguyen.

“That’s my wife’s department, she’s very good at organization but we travel a lot, which I think is confidence to just get through it and be organized helps a lot,” said Brett Mills.

“We’re just checking one bag and these guys are getting to be pretty experienced travellers,” said Taunya Zipse.

“We do everything early. We do everything online and we start packing a couple days in advance,” said Sarah Mills.

The Calgary Airport Authority has prepared a number of Christmas themed events to keep passengers entertained while they wait for flights.

“We have Mrs. Claus, who’ll be reading stories to children in our post security locations,” says Sarah Urbanowski, the manager of corporate communications with the airport. “We have the Festival of Trees, we have a free gift wrapping service, post-security. We have carolers and bands.”

Travellers are advised not to wrap Christmas presents as customs may have to open them to inspect the contents and the airport is offering a free gift wrapping service on the other side of the security perimeter.

Click HERE to see the current wait times for security screening at YYC.