San Diego airport expecting more crowds after holiday travel season’s end

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — While the annual Fourth of July holiday rush is coming to a close, San Diego International Airport officials are signaling travelers might not be out of the woods quite yet when it comes to crowds.

According to the airport authority, this summer travel season is expected to be its busiest since 2019, with millions set to take flight from San Diego to destinations around the globe.

Sunday saw a steady flow of passengers throughout the day. Initially anticipated to be the single busiest travel day around the Fourth of July, it marked the end to the hectic 10-day holiday travel window, where nearly 800,000 people arrived in and departed from San Diego.

“Long security lines, a lot of people in each terminal,” one passenger who arrived in San Diego from Alabama on Sunday told FOX 5/KUSI of his experience traveling during the holiday rush.

Planning ahead helped ease travel headaches for some folks at the airport on Sunday. That includes travelers like the Martinez family who flew into San Diego International Airport from Northern California.

“We made sure to leave early enough to get [to the airport] in time to not be stressed,” one member of the family said, adding that they had no issues with their flight experience in large part because of their advanced preparations.

As the summer bears on, airport authority officials want to remind those taking to the skies about a few best practices:

• Check your flight status and time before arriving at the airport.
• Arrive at least two hours before your scheduled departure, but also account for possible traffic congestion due to the airport’s ongoing construction. The busiest times for curbside drop-offs are 4:00 a.m. to 6:15 a.m., 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and 8 p.m. to 12 a.m.
• Make parking reservations ahead of time to secure a spot in one of the airport lots, if needed. Parking is currently available at the Terminal 2 Parking Plaza, and reservations can be made for the structure or with curbside valet.

FOX 5/KUSI’s Juliette Vara contributed to this report.