Long Lines, Crowds, Traffic At Bay Area Airports As Super Bowl Fans Leave Town
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- If you are one of the thousands of Super Bowl fans flying out of the Bay Area Monday, get there super early. The lines are long at San Francisco International, Oakland and San Jose Mineta airports.
At six o'clock in the morning on Monday, SFO never looked so busy as thousands of Super Bowl fans scrambled to get out of town.
Outside, cars were backed up, and police and traffic control blew whistles at people, trying to get them to move along, instead of lingering after their curbside drop-offs. Tour buses added to the congestion.
Inside, passengers stood in long lines at the ticket counters and security checkpoints.
The airport warned folks to get there early.
"Our flight is at 9... it took us like 10 minutes to get here," said one passenger waiting in line, who arrived three hours before their scheduled flight.
"Most of our major airlines remained open overnight -- security checkpoints remained open overnight -- essentially the remainder of the airport was open at 3:30 this morning," said airport spokesperson Doug Yakel. "So we're really messaging for people to get here early."
An estimated 85,0000 people are expected to fly out of SFO on Monday. That's 25,000 more than usual.
Yakel advised anyone flying Monday to arrive three hours early.
Officials at Oakland Airport and San Jose Mineta Airport echoed that same advice.
Meantime, private jets were whisking departing high-roller fans away since Sunday night. Residents who live near Oakland Airport were advised to expect a lot noise as jets began departing from the South and North Field.
