San Jose International Airport gearing up for a busy travel day amid winter storm concerns

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KION-TV)- The holiday travel rush is underway. Thousands of people are looking to be with their families for Christmas. With a winter storm impacting travel plans for millions of people, they made sure they came to the airport extra early.

Alex Lugo is one of those people.

“I got here two hours in advance,” said Lugo. “Just to make sure that if I do get any delays or my flight gets bumped up, I'm ready to jump on the plane.”

A long line of cars could be seen outside the Mineta San Jose International Airport as people were dropped off to ensure they made their flights on time. 

Lugo is flying out to Texas to be with family.

“I'm looking forward to being united with my family on time,” said Lugo. 

It's all hands on deck at the airport. Workers are making sure that things run smoothly. 

“For our airline partners, concessionaire partners, and in fact, many of our airport employees who do various functions for the airport,” said Scott Wintner with the Mineta San Jose International Airport, “have volunteered to be out in the terminals helping out passengers at this time.”

On Thursday, FlightAware reported more than 5500 delays in or out of the U.S. It also tracked more than 2000 cancellations. Wintner said most of the impacts they're seeing are for travelers heading to Chicago or St. Louis. 

“We certainly know there are travelers who are going beyond those cities and maybe connecting somewhere along the way,” said Wintner, “who are impacted even though their flight out of San Jose might not be.”

Santa Cruz local Cynthia McGregor says she's heading to San Diego to be with family. The winter storm impact also made her wonder if it would affect her trip. 

“With what's going on in the Midwest, I was wondering if California would be affected,” said McGregor. “But it's on time.”

For Mcgregor, holiday travel is not too stressful because she gives herself plenty of time.

People planning to head out on Thursday or Friday should check to see if their flights with their airlines to see if they’ve been canceled or delayed.

The airport recommends if you’re bringing a gift, to make sure it’s unwrapped because TSA might need to check it.  

AAA estimates that about 112.7 million will be traveling more than 50 miles from December 23 to January 2, an increase of 3.6 million over last year.