The year before the pandemic was the busiest travel year on record during the holidays with 7.3 million travelers but this year is expected to bring in a record 7.5 million people traveling by air.
“We expect this to be our busiest year ever. We anticipate going over 600,000 passengers, that will be the most we've ever had here,” said Craig Piper, San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport Deputy Director.
AAA predicts the 10-day travel period from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1 will be the busiest ever at airports across the U.S.
Jeff Runnels who is visiting from San Diego said lines at the San Diego airport were busy.
“I flew out on the 27th. It was a 30 min wait at the TSA precheck which was abnormal. I asked the TSA gentleman and he said yesterday it was almost out the door, an hour wait,” Runnels said. "On busy weekends it's a true testament you need to get there two hours early because some days it's a 15-minute wait; some days it's an hour."
On the other hand, here on the Central Coast, one community member says he didn't have any issues while traveling.
“It was very easy and simple all the way through,” Pismo Beach resident Jeff Greto said. “Usually around the 20th of December travel starts to pick up so we kind of missed all that."
However, airport officials say people are still out and will continue to make their way back as the parking lot is full of cars.
They recommend finding another way to the airport.
“Someone drops you off, or you use one of the shuttles or local transportation,” Piper said.
