Early-bird holiday air travelers pleased to find parking at SFO
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT -- One of the busiest travel days since the start of the pandemic was underway Friday at the start of the Memorial Day weekend and San Francisco International Airport was anticipating strong demand for parking.
Johana Barahona arrived on time at SFO Friday, anticipating a challenging parking situation. However, he was pleasantly surprised.
"Amazingly surprising, like I was rushing, thinking we weren't going to make it, but we did," Barahona said.
Barahona was among the thousands expected to utilize the airport parking lots Friday at the start of the long weekend.
"It looks slower right now. We'll see when we get inside," she added.
By 1 p.m., we noticed several vacant spots during our exploration of the parking area. We even encountered cars occupying two spaces, creating difficulties for those seeking parking later in the day.
"Just driving into the airport, it seems normal. It doesn't seem packed or anything," Neel Rao said. He opted to try the airport parking lot for the first time and arrived early.
"There are a lot of spots," Rao added. " I'm trying it for the first time because sometimes an Uber ride costs around $100 for just a 20-minute trip. So I decided to try parking and compare it to Uber."
Doug Yakel, the spokesperson for SFO, expressed readiness to handle the increasing number of travelers.
"We're forecasting 140,000 people going in and out of SFO today," said Yakel. "We will hit that number, which we've already reached a few times this month. Over the past two weeks, on the last Thursdays and Fridays, we consistently hit that 140,000 mark."
Aware of the parking concerns, Yakel offered some recommendations.
"We still have some capacity available but may reach capacity throughout the weekend. Therefore, we recommend that travelers take public transit, share a ride, or visit our website and book their parking space in advance if they drive their vehicle," he said. "This way, you can ensure you have a designated space before arriving for your flight."
