More than 169,000 passengers expected to fly out of SFO

SAN FRANCISCO (Leigh Martinez/KTVU) - No longer is the day before Thanksgiving the busiest holiday travel day at San Francisco International Airport.

Today is.  

Representatives said on Friday that this has been the trend for the last five years.

The airport attributes the high volume of air travel passengers to most schools giving kids the whole week off for Thanksgiving.

More than 169,000 passengers are expected to be flying out of SFO on Friday, up an additional 14,000 passengers from its daily average.

Passengers said they knew it would be busy, but they were still surprised at the lines at 4 a.m.

“So many people,” Jessica Ren said en route to China.

“We picked today,” said Mpho Hansjeg,” because it was dramatically cheaper to leave now. Now I see why.”

The Friday after Thanksgiving is typically one of the slowest and cheapest days for air travel.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving should be the second busiest travel day.