COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — As travel numbers have increased all summer long, this Labor Day has been one of the biggest travel weekends since before the pandemic.

Between Buckeyes fan coming to town for the season opener and Labor Day vacationers, thousands of flyers passed through John Glenn International Airport.

Bradley Reed and his family are among those traveling in and out of Columbus this Labor Day weekend. He said, based on the crowds he saw in town, he was prepared for the worst.

“How it was for the weekend and it being a holiday weekend, it was actually pretty good considering how populated it was,” Reed said.

Reed said he hit the most bumps in his starting destination. Then, for the most part, his experience in Columbus was smooth.

“It was actually better than Denver, that’s where I flew out of,” Reed said. “This is nowhere near as congested. Easy sailing from getting off the plane to finding the people who were picking us up. Very simple, very easy.”

Ellen Glaze flew in from Dallas for the Ohio State football game. She said flying out of Dallas Friday morning really showed the volume of people traveling for the holiday weekend.

“Getting here was horrible,” Glaze said. “Canceled flights, delayed flights, we came in a day later than we had originally planned but we got here everything is fine heading home. We had a great time here, always have a great time in Columbus.”

Columbus airport officials are predicting this weekend’s travel numbers to be similar to Memorial Day, with around 11,000 departing passengers each day. The airport also had less than a dozen canceled flights throughout the holiday weekend compared to other cities in the region having more than a dozen.

Overall, airport officials say it was a successful summer with the airport back to nearly 90% of pre-pandemic levels.

“I would definitely come back here again. No problems at all. Loved it. It was an easy experience for me,” Reed said.

Monday, the airport was filled with a lot of Buckeye fans heading back home after a big win. They say they’re feeling a lot less anxious on their flight home than on the way here.