Bay Area airports experience longer lines as Thanksgiving travelers head home
The Sunday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest travel day nationally. San Francisco International, Oakland International and San Jose International all experienced longer lines than usual.
"We just traveled back from Florida," said Rachel Rider of Watsonville as she waited to retrieve her luggage.
Rider, her husband, and their three daughters arrived at SFO on Sunday afternoon, after spending quality time with her side of the family.
"We haven't had Thanksgiving with them for three years, so that was really special to be home and see all of my side of the family in Florida," said Rider.
Rider said despite the long flight, it was a smooth trip for the most part.
"We got to the airport on the normal two hours before when we left. We did almost miss the plane in our connection, for our connection, that's true, in Dallas. But otherwise, it was pretty easy," said Rider. "We had plane trouble, but it wasn't crowd trouble."
SFO officials said Rider's family was among the tens of thousands of people who came through the airport. Airports only provide departure numbers.
The SFO on-duty manager expected 82,800 people to fly out on Sunday, based on pre-purchased tickets. He said with roughly the same amount of arrivals, he projected the total passenger count on Sunday to be about 165,000 passengers.
At the smaller San Jose International Airport, officials said between Wednesday and Sunday, they projected about 90,000 passengers departed out of SJC.
Oakland International Airport officials did not yet have the number for Sunday. But they reported from November 22 to November 30, about 129,000 passengers flew out of OAK.
"We're coming back from Portland, Oregon. And the airport wasn't too crowded. Wasn't too bad. Good flight. No delays whatsoever, easy," said John and Jennifer Evans as they waited for their luggage at OAK.
With a lot of young children traveling during the holidays, parents tried different things to keep their kids entertained and happy.
"(My four-year-old daughter) is a pro, she's been on a couple of flights already. So she knows how to travel. And then with the iPad, that keeps her attention," said Quintin Glover at OAK.
Many passengers said overall, no big issues with lines. The bigger problem, they said, was the holiday break being way too short.
"We love San Fran. We don't want to leave," said Jessica Escalon, who was visiting family in San Francisco from Los Angeles. "I don't want to go home, but we're going home, I guess. I've got to go back to work tomorrow."
Rider said while traveling with kids is never easy, Sunday wrapped up an amazing trip for her family.
"I'm relaxed. I'm ready to go back to work," said Rider.