Thanksgiving travel at San Antonio’s airport expected to eclipse pre-pandemic levels

With Thanksgiving two days away, Texans are hitting heading to the airport and hitting the road at levels not seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Or, the case of San Antonio’s airport, even before the pandemic.

Local officials expect 17,279 people to fly in and out of San Antonio International Airport the Wednesday before Thanksgiving — the highest single-day number of travelers it’s logged in four years, the Express-News reports.

In contrast, just 15,695 people journeyed through SAT the day before Thanksgiving in 2019. The number of people traveling during the height of the pandemic dropped to a meager 6,259 in 2020, only to rebound to 15,476 the following year, according to the daily.

“Families and friends are eager to spend time together this Thanksgiving, one of the busiest for travel in the past two decades,” Paula Twidale, AAA’s senior vice president of travel said in a statement. “Plan ahead and pack your patience, whether you’re driving or flying.”

About 4 million Texans are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home between Wednesday and Sunday, according to AAA Texas. That number is 1% higher than last year and 5% short of pre-pandemic travel numbers.

If you plan to travel by car Wednesday, AAA recommends leaving before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. to avoid traffic.

San Antonio airport officials told the Express-News that those traveling on domestic flights should at their terminals at least two hours before domestic departures and three hours before international departures to ensure that they make their flights on time.

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This article appears in Nov 16-29, 2022.