Aug 31, 2007 10:45 am US/Pacific
This Labor Day Weekend, Expect Company On The Road
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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The Auto Club estimated that 2.48 million people will drive to their weekend getaways, an increase of about 1 percent compared to last year.
CBS
More than two million Southlanders will set out for vacation destinations by air and road Friday at the start of the four-day Labor Day holiday, summer's last hurrah.
An estimated 825,000 travelers -- both departing and arriving -- are expected to pass through Los Angeles International Airport between today and Monday, an increase of two percent over last year's Labor Day weekend, according to Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX.
Ontario International Airport, which is also run by LAWA, is expecting to serve approximately 83,000 travelers over the holiday weekend, four percent more than last year.
With airlines forecasting passenger load factors above 90 percent, travelers should allow enough time before their flights for parking, airline check-in, and passenger and checked-luggage security screening, LAWA officials said.
They recommended that travelers arrive two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights.
LAWA also urged travelers to use shuttles and buses to avoid traffic jams while getting to airports.
Most Southland residents planning short vacations this weekend will be driving to their destinations. Their top five destinations are San Diego, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Northern California and Baja Mexico cruises, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.
The Auto Club estimated that 2.48 million people will drive to their weekend getaways, an increase of about 1 percent compared to last year. In contrast, 520,000 Southlanders are expected to travel by air.
"Southern Californians still want to travel, but we're not seeing the record increases in the number of travelers that we experienced in 2004 and 2005," Auto Club spokeswoman Carol Thorp said.
"Those past boom years for travel occurred partly because we experienced pent-up demand for travel that had been delayed after 9/11 and at the start of the Iraq war. Now, we are in a period where travel demand is growing, but at a slower rate."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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