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More than 16 million Californians are expected to travel during the holidays this year, but where are they headed?
Nearly 120 million people will travel 50 miles or more from Saturday, Dec. 21, to Wednesday, Jan. 1, including millions of Californians, according to AAA Northern California.
If you’re traveling by car, the weekends before Christmas and New Year’s are expected to see the most traffic, according to INRIX, a provider of transportation data and insights. If you’re traveling by plane, flying on Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are the best days to avoid the worst crowds, USA TODAY reported.
The top domestic holiday destinations are Orlando, Fort Lauderdale in Florida, Miami, Anaheim and Los Angeles, Tampa, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Charleston, New Orleans and New York. This is based on AAA booking data from Saturday, Dec. 21, to Wednesday, Jan. 1.
As for the travelers flying out of three busy California airports, it varies a bit.
For many travelers, the possibility of a government shutdown is looming. However, USA TODAY reported that previous shutdowns had minimal impacts on travel, and if one does happen, it shouldn’t have any significant effects on your travel plans.
The Desert Sun emailed three airports in California to learn which destinations are busy during the holidays.
The Los Angeles International Airport’s top domestic destinations during the winter holiday season, which is from Sunday, Dec. 15 to Friday, Jan. 3, are Las Vegas, New York (John F. Kennedy International Airport), San Francisco, Chicago (Chicago O’Hare International Airport), Honolulu, Dallas-Forth Worth, Denver, Seattle, New York (Newark/Newark Liberty International Airport) and Phoenix, said LAX spokesperson Justin Upshaw.
The best measure for San Francisco International Airport’s top holiday destinations is the number of seats on airplanes that airlines sell from SFO during December, said SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel. Based on that metric, the top destinations are LAX, JKF, Las Vegas, Denver, San Diego, Newark, Chicago, Seattle, Taipei, and Boston.
The northern California airport forecasted that 6.3 million travelers are expected at SFO between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, an estimated 15% increase compared to last year’s holiday travel, according to a news release.
Like SFO, San Diego International Airport is expecting more travelers at their airport than last year during their winter holiday travel period. The Southern California airport anticipates that as many as 1.3 million travelers will be arriving and departing between Thursday, Dec. 19, and Sunday, Jan. 5, according to a news release.
San Diego International Airport’s top four most frequent nonstop flights for their winter holiday travel period, Thursday, Dec. 19 through Sunday, Jan. 5, are to San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, and Phoenix, according to spokesperson Nicole Hall.
Across the nation, TSA expects to screen nearly 40 million people from Thursday, Dec. 19, through Thursday, Jan. 2, a 6.2% increase compared to the same time last year.
Traveling by flight during the holidays? Here are three ways to help make your next airport experience just a bit smoother, based on guidance from Lorie Dankers, TSA spokesperson, who spoke to The Desert Sun in November about Thanksgiving travel.
Paris Barraza is a trending reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at pbarraza@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.
