LAS VEGAS -- The holiday travel season kicks off this weekend and airport officials are ready for what they call the busiest travel weekend of the season. Travelers are already packing their bags and getting in lines, hoping to beat the rush at McCarran Airport.

"It's horrible," traveler Deborah Shiebley said. "The lines are long; people are nasty. They're rude -- just total opposite of how you should be at the holidays."

McCarran is the sixth-largest airport in the U.S. Officials are expecting about 800,000 people to travel through the airport during the Thanksgiving weekend.

"There really isn't a slow day here anymore," said Randall Walker, Clark County director of aviation said. "Back in the '90s, we used to talk about peak days and slow days. Now we just have peak days and bigger peak days."

According to statistics, flights were at 60 percent capacity in the '90s. Now flights are at 80 percent capacity, on average. Officials said the additional people will always bring additional congestion.

"Anytime there's a problem, anytime there's a delay, it just takes so much longer to recover," Walker said. "There just isn't that excess seating available to recover with."

President George W. Bush announced this week that some military air space will be available for commercial travel this holiday season to ease congestion. He also wants to double fines against airlines that bump passengers during the peak travel times.

"It's about time," Shiebley said. "The airports pretty much hold you hostage. You're at their mercy and there's nothing you can do about it, so it's about time someone is held accountable."

Airport officials call the proposal progressive and helpful, but it's only a short-term solution. They said funding is desperately needed for improvements, such as revamping air traffic control systems.

"We really need the federal government to step up," Walker said. "There are a lot of things they need to do that we can't do as airports and airlines."

To help ease congestion, airport officials have opened three parking lots to the public. There is a 24-hour parking information line available to travelers. It allows you to check the status of the lots before you search for a spot. That number is 702-261-5122.

But officials want travelers to add an additional 30 minutes to your pre-flight arrival time to search for a parking space. Officials said that even though there is additional parking that will not change the amount of congestion in the terminals.