Oakland, Calif. – November 9, 2023: San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport (OAK) projects over 360,000 passengers will pass through the airport during the eleven-day Thanksgiving holiday travel period from Friday, November 17 through Monday, November 27. This is a 2.2 percent increase over the same period last year and 85% of the 2019 pre-pandemic traffic benchmark.

According to airline schedules and past TSA throughput statistics, the busiest days for travel are expected to be Friday, November 17th and Wednesday, November 22nd. Monday, November 27th is projected to be the busiest day for post-holiday travel.

“We always look forward to welcoming Thanksgiving holiday travelers that choose to travel through OAK,” says Craig Simon, Interim Director of Aviation at the Port of Oakland. “We recommend arriving earlier than usual as the airport is expected to be busy. Additionally, to those who wish to conveniently Park OAK for their trip, we suggest reserving parking ahead via the airport’s website.”

The great news is that OAK is still taking new parking reservations, but room for non-reservation parking is limited. Reservations guarantee entry to the parking lots, so we strongly recommend making a reservation during the holidays. Booking ahead is also more affordable for Economy and Daily Lot parkers, who can get discounted rates when they stay more than 5 days. If travelers choose not to secure parking with a reservation, be sure to check the parking website ahead of the trip for lot occupancy rates and urgent “sold out” alerts. Parking can be reserved here.

As always, the airport recommends arriving early: at least 2 hours prior to departure for domestic travel and 3 hours for international. Additionally, passengers can save time by checking in for their flight before coming to the airport using the airline’s website or mobile application. In case of airline delays or cancellations, be sure to check flight status before coming to the airport as well.

New concession locations are now open and serving passengers! New units introduced this year include OAK Clubhouse in Terminal 1, and Calavera and Southie in Terminal 2. All airport concessions and hours of operations can be found here.