San Diego

San Diego Travelers Prepare for Holiday Rush at Airport, On the Road

The rush to visit family and get home for the holidays is in full swing!

With just a few days untilj Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel periods of the year, San Diego International Airport was already seeing crowds and long lines over the weekend.

On Sunday morning, photos showed a TSA line spilling out of the terminal but one traveler said she largely avoided all the fuss.

β€œWe were at the airport at 4 a.m., there wasn't any traffic on the road, so there were some really good things about leaving early,” traveler Bobbi Titus said.

She said everything went pretty smoothly at the San Diego airport after their half-empty inbound plane from Chicago. Not waiting until the day before Thanksgiving probably helped, she added.

NBC 7 caught up with other travelers who had helpful tips for braving the skies and the airports over the next few days.

β€œYou have to make sure that your Uber is ready to go. You have to make sure that your boarding pass is ready. So go online, get the app and make sure you check in early,” one seasoned traveler said,

Of course, there are some things completely out of anyone’s control like snow, so be prepared for weather delays closer to Thanksgiving if traveling to colder areas. Airport officials reccomend customers make a habit out of checking their airline apps to keep up with the status of their flights.

A series of storms are forecasted to pound much of the United States this week, delivering an extended bout of rain, ice and snow just as millions of Americans are expected to hit the roads and the skies for Thanksgiving, NBC News reports.

The wet, cold weather will continue this week, the National Weather Service said, with rain and snow forecast from California and Oregon to the Upper Midwest and East Coast.

Like the airport, the roadways will be extra busy this week, too. But they'll also be slippery from the storm. CHP Officer Jake Sanchez said anyone planning to drive to their Thanksgiving destination should take both factors into consideration.

"Account for the poor weather, and give yourself that extra time to leave," Officer Sanchez said.

AAA said the traffic heading toward Los Angeles could be up to five times worse over the holiday.

"That's crazy. This is the first I'm hearing of it that it's going to be that much worse," said a driver filling up on gas before his Wednesday trip up north.

The CHP cautioned drivers that while Thanksgiving is one of the busiest times for travel all year, it's also one of the deadliest.

For that reason the CHP said it will have all available officers on patrol for a Maximum Enforcement Period from 6 p.m. Wednesday to midnight Monday. Officers will be looking out for unsafe, distracted and impaired drivers, with a focus on I-5 from the to Orange County and on I-8 from the coast to Arizona.

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