Sacramento International Airport sees an increase of travelers for the holidays
The Sacramento International Airport was busy with thousands of travelers arriving and departing from the airport on Monday.
The airport expects to see 20,000 to 22,000 travelers every day this week.
Despite the large number of people traveling through the airport, travelers told KCRA they had not noticed any major issues.
"Surprisingly, today, it went really smooth. I got through security in just a couple of minutes. I don't think I've ever seen security go so smoothly," said Kathleen Boyack.
Other travelers like Max Porazzl decided to head to the airport extra early to avoid being rushed.
"Guess we came, like, probably about two and a half hours early, which is a lot earlier than we normally come. But it wasn't all needed. But it was nice to know that we had the time," Porazzl said.
Airport officials recommend travelers give themselves that same allotted time to get to the airport. That's because there's been changes to parking lots at SMF.
"Our parking garage and daily lots are filling up some days. So we want to assume you're going to go to an economy lot, and then you need to take the shuttle. And that means that you're going to need to give yourself extra time. It can take an hour from the economy lot to the terminal. So just got to bank that time in," Myers said.
The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen more than 40 million passengers now till Jan. 2, which is a 6% increase from a year ago.
Changes in how you will be screened at SMF might ease those wait times.
"We do have new screening protocols with TSA, so you don't have to take those laptops and liquids out of your bag. You can leave it all in your bag, put it in the bin and it goes right through," Myers said.
TSA said they're expecting the busiest days at airports to be the Friday after Christmas as well as Sunday, Dec. 29.
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