News & Facts

Holiday Travel For December

SANTA BARBARA, CA – Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) anticipates a busier than normal travel period between December 17, 2010 and January 3, 2011. During the month of December, passenger volumes at SBA tend to be higher than usual with the busiest days being Friday (December 17) through Sunday (December 26). However, passengers should be aware of an expanded travel window through Sunday, January 2. To ensure a smooth visit to the Airport, passengers are encouraged to plan ahead and arrive at the Airport two hours prior to flight departure time. 

SBA offers the following tips:
•    Plan Ahead –  Use caution when traveling through the Airport drop-off road and obey reduced speed limits. Plan to arrive two (2) hours prior to your flight departure time to find parking (which may include shuttling from the off-site parking lot), check-in with your airline, and go through security screening to get to the boarding gate on-time.
 
•    Pack Smart – Know what items are accepted or prohibited through security and on the aircraft, including food and beverage items. Check www.tsa.gov for more information. As a reminder, gifts should not be wrapped as they are subject to search, even if placed in checked baggage. The TSA liquid restrictions remain in place; bottled water and liquids over 3 oz. are prohibited through security screening at the boarding gates.
 
•    Parking – SBA offers long and short term parking options at the Terminal. Remote parking is available at Long Term Parking Lot 2 on Frederick Lopez Road, off Hollister Avenue near Fairview Ave.  All parking lots are automated - accepting payment via cash or credit card.  Complimentary shuttle van service is available 24 hours a day, 7 day per week between Lot 2 and the Airline Terminal. Handicapped parking is available in all parking lots.

Note to Media Representatives:  The Airport Administration Office, as with many City administrative offices, is closed for employee furlough December 20 – December 31.  However, this does not affect airline operations and passenger services at the airline terminal. 

Media Inquiries: please contact the Airport Security Operations Center at 805.681.4803. 

Additional holiday information & additional tips:

Between December 17 and  January 3 over 38,000 passengers will travel into and out of SBA.

IndependentTraveler.com predicts that December 20, 21, and 29 will be the best travel days and December 24, 27, 31, January 2, 3 will be the worst travel days during the holidays.  The reason is that both Christmas and New Years are on Saturdays this year making it more likely that people will be leaving mid-day on Thursday or possibly Friday.

Other holiday travel hints:

Scale back on carry-ons. Overhead bins are going to be full, and you could end up being forced to check bags at the door of the plane. Try to limit
 yourself to one carry-on.

Bring diversions. Take along work, books, magazines, a CD player, some healthy snacks -- whatever you need to get through delays. This goes double when traveling with kids.

Keep your cool.

Have phone numbers for everything: your hotel, your car rental agency, your airline, friends at your destination.

Check flight status repeatedly. Know your airline's 800 number as well as your flight numbers and exact times.

See the Air Traffic Control System Command Center Real-time Airport Status site to obtain the latest delay information by airport.

When traveling on an E-ticket, carry a printout of your itinerary from your travel agent, airline, or online booking site.

Give your cell phone a full charge, and write down or program the phone number of your airline so you can call easily as your flight time approaches.