Travelers Shuffle Through Crowded Airport To Make Thanksgiving Destinations
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - The biggest travel day of the year again saw travelers scrambling to make their flights Wednesday at the Sacramento airport.
Travelers told a familiar story.
"It's been hectic," one man said. "Place is packed. It's nasty."
And so is the parking lot.
"The daily parking was closed so I had to go to another lot," Kim Leonard said.
People shuffled in and out of Sacramento International with different scenarios.
"We went to the wrong terminal," Brady Santens said. "We had to come back here with the shuttle buses. That was kind of a big deal."
Oh, and flight status is also a big deal.
"My flight was late, so all my connecting flights are now late so at least I was able to get home I guess," Erica Johnson said. "Hopefully, I won't be spending the night in the airport."
But you're sure to spend money.
"It's a pretty long day for me and lots of airport food," she said.
AAA says more than 43 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles over the Thanksgiving holiday.
"I can't believe that I am traveling today," Leonard said. "I should have traveled yesterday to avoid this craziness."
But it's worth it to Joey Whitespeare, who's surprising his family in Texas.
"There is a lot of people, and I really don't like people much," he said. "My brother wants me to visit my sister for Thanksgiving."
"Be thankful, it's Thanksgiving," Johnson reminded.
Travelers looking for economy parking Thursday found that two of those lots, 2,000 spaces, have been closed off.
"They're really at the end of their useful life," airport spokeswoman Laurie Slothower said. "There's a lot of deterioration in the road surface."
Most travelers thus are forced to park in the daily surface lot. The daily lot normally costs $15, but for the holidays the airport reduced it to $12, which is still $2 more than parking in the economy lot.
Still, travelers we spoke to Thursday didn't seem to mind.
"Two bucks is not that big of a deal to me," Craig Schrader said. "You're closer. It's faster."
"Two dollars more isn't that bad," Rachelle Favis said, "especially considering the proximity to the entrance, so yeah it's OK."
The extra 200 pennies definitely weren't an issue for Michael Scott.
"It's cheap," he said. "In SF, traveling down there for a week, you'll spend $20 for parking; $12 a day is nothing."
