You might know at least one person who isn’t planning to travel anywhere for the period around Christmas and New Year’s Day, but plenty of people will be on the move.
Something like 122.4 million people nationwide will be boarding airplanes and zipping — or perhaps plodding — along freeways and roadways. That number of travelers going at least 50 miles in the period from Saturday until Jan. 1 would be a 2.2 percent increase over 2024, when a record 119.7 million people traveled nationwide. AAA expects 89% of this year’s travelers to be on the roads.
“Technically, it’s the biggest amount (of holiday travelers) we have all year,” AAA spokesperson Julian Paredes said. “The major difference between this holiday and the other super-packed ones such as Thanksgiving and Memorial Day is that those holidays are somewhat condensed. So technically, it won’t be as crowded.”
The anticipated 16.6 million travelers in California are expected to venture at least 50 miles, and about 14.5 million are anticipated to do so with a car or other vehicle.
Meanwhile, some 8.03 million travelers nationally will take a domestic flight, AAA has forecast. That would be a 2.3 percent increase from a year ago and would mark the first time the year-end holiday period has seen at least 8 million domestic air travelers, according to Paredes.
Locally, the peak air travel days already began at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday and will run through Monday, spokesperson Doug Yakel said. Airport officials anticipate that some 165,000 to 170,000 arriving and departing passengers will move through SFO on each of those days.
“We recommend allowing extra time during those days,” Yakel said, adding that the only other day that will top 160,000 passengers between now and New Year’s Day will be Dec. 26. Travelers should arrive at least two hours prior to their departures for domestic flights and three hours before international flights.
Parking won’t be a winter wonderland, either.
“We expect parking garages to get full, so we recommend public transit or shared rides,” Yakel said. “For parking, we recommend booking in advance on our website to ensure space is still available.”
San Jose Mineta International Airport is expected to have an average of 15,000 passengers departures per day beginning Saturday and running through Jan. 5.
By comparison, during the first 10 months of 2025, San Jose Airport accommodated about 4.48 million departures. Based on a total of 304 days for those 10 months, that would work out to an average of roughly 14,800 departures a day.
Jarratt said the airport will offer live holiday music, free gift wrapping and additional mobility services to assist passengers as they move through the aviation hub. Therapy animals also will be traveling through the terminals during the holidays, offering stress relief for passengers.
Roughly 400,000 passengers are expected to pass through Oakland San Francisco Bay International Airport from Saturday until Jan. 5, with the busiest days expected to be Dec. 22 and Jan. 5, both Mondays. The airport also will roll out a program that enables some people to enter security-screened areas in order to meet or see off travelers at the gates instead of at the curb.
On the roads, drivers can look forward to the lowest gas prices in four years. The national average has dropped below $3 a gallon in December and was $2.90 on Thursday. In California, the average gas price of $4.33 per gallon was down from earlier this year but still high compared to the nation.
“We saw record-high prices just a couple of years ago,” Paredes said. “So, that’s a positive.”
The freeways and roads will be least congested on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with Paredes suggesting that Christmas Eve day is generally when the roads are most empty. He reminded those driving significant and not-so-significant distances to make sure their car batteries and tires are in good shape.
“We expect 860,000 calls nationwide for roadside assistance,” he said. “Those two things are the main reasons for those calls. They’re easy things to forget about.”
The weather figures to be intense enough to keep the attention of anyone driving. An atmospheric river storm moving toward the Bay Area from the Pacific Northwest, and the more conventional storm that’s ahead of it, are expected to make driving difficult.
The big system is likely to arrive by Sunday, and National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Gass said it will “100 percent” affect any Christmas and travel plans. It’s expected to dump 2 to 5 inches of rain in the North Bay and at least 1½ inches for the rest of the Bay Area.
In the Sierra, that storm could provide relief to ski resorts and other industries reliant on snow. Light ran fell Wednesday, as did snow above 8,000 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The snow levels are expected to drop to 6,500 feet by Monday, with the heaviest snow above Donner Pass, and travel is likely to be disrupted.
Hazardous tule fog that has blanketed the Bay Area also is expected to be gone for good by Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. The intense storms that are expected to hit the region beginning late Friday or early Saturday will change the elements that have created the fog, the weather service said.
Another hazard, as always, will be impaired drivers, public safety officials said. December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, and officials urged drivers to plan safe rides home if they’re drinking, to pull over at a rest area if they get sleepy, and to stay buckled up.