SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — This year could be the busiest Memorial Day travel season in nearly two decades.
AAA predicts that nearly 44 million people will travel from Thursday through Monday, with 38 million traveling by car and 3.5 million by plane.
Read more: Memorial Day weekend travel: Busiest day for air and road travel
Air travel
SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said the airport expects more than 755,000 people to use the airport this weekend, about 8 percent more than last year.
“I think the post-pandemic recovery continues to happen, but that recovery has already happened primarily in the domestic sector,” Yakel said, “But really what we've seen over the last 12 months is a very meaningful recovery in the international sector, with many airlines that had suspended operations during the COVID-19 pandemic returning to SFO, particularly this year.”
The travel rush comes after federal data showed San Francisco International Airport ranked last in the nation's on-time performance rankings in February.
SFO spokesman Doug Yeakel said runway construction and weather conditions made delays more likely than usual in February.
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Just two years ago, San Francisco International Airport was ranked the top large airport in the United States by the Wall Street Journal based on on-time arrivals and on-time departures.
Domestic airfares are up about 1% to 2%, according to AAA data, but not enough to deter people from traveling this holiday weekend.
A senior vice president at AAA Travel said in a statement that the high Memorial Day travel numbers signal the start of the summer travel season.
Sara Kopit, editor-in-chief of travel site Skift, said if you haven't booked a summer trip yet, now is the time to do so.
“The earlier the better,” she says, “the peak booking period is over now, but one piece of advice I can give is that the Olympics are coming to Paris this summer, and flights to Paris right after the Olympics are very cheap right now.”
If you're traveling this Memorial Day weekend, Jakel says it's a good idea to arrive at the airport two hours before departure for domestic flights and three hours before departure for international flights.
car trip
If your holiday travel plans include driving, you'll need to know the best and worst times to leave the house.
Eastbound Interstate 80, especially the stretch from San Francisco to near Interstate 37, is expected to be the busiest in the Bay Area.
If possible, avoid the East Shore Freeway, especially on Fridays at 11 a.m. as traffic will be very congested during peak hours.
A drive from San Francisco to the Vallejo area, which typically takes about an hour, can take over an hour and 25 minutes.
AAA gives the worst and best travel times for the next five days.
If you want to go on Thursday but haven't left yet, wait until after 7 p.m.
Friday, departure before 11am or after 8pm
If you plan on returning home on Monday, avoid travelling between 3pm and 7pm.
When it comes to road travel, AAA's outlook shows the number of drivers this year is up 4% compared to last year and 1.9% higher than in 2019, before the pandemic.
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