SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The holiday travel season is picking up steam and is expected to hit pre-pandemic levels.
AAA expects airports to be packed with nearly 7.2 million Americans predicted to fly this holiday season. It translates to a busy time for rideshare drivers heading to and from the Sacramento International Airport.
Many drivers were waiting at the pick-up area to take passengers to their destinations. Some passengers opted to take rideshare services to avoid traffic and parking issues.
"Holiday season so a lot of people are leaving, I mean they have a lot of departure flights as well as we got a lot of arrivals," said Zmarai Rafiq, an Uber driver.
Rafiq was busy with pickups and drop offs Thursday night and is expecting more of the same as the holiday weekend travel period kicks off.
"From 5 p.m. or 4 p.m. until midnight, then I get rest for 4 to 5 hours and then I start," said Rafiq. "Early in the morning, like 3 a.m., a lot of people are leaving. They have a lot of departure flights."
On busy travel days, there have been times when there has been no parking spots available, such as Thanksgiving.
That's why so many are opting to take an Uber, Lyft or a taxi to the airport instead.
"We didn't want to either pay for parking or deal with the issues like there were on Thanksgiving, so we parked at a friend's house and we're going to take Uber or Lyft back to our car," said Michelle Crandall, from Greenwood.
While Uber and Lyft are in high demand among travelers, some customers say they aren't having trouble finding a ride.
"This is about the normal time it takes to get a car, so I haven't experienced any extra delays," said Cuauhtemoc Montesdeoca, of Elk Grove.
Air travel is expected to see a 14% increase over last year, according to AAA.
Holiday traffic will pickup from noon to 6 p.m. Friday so keep that in mind heading to the airport.
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