Record 849K travelers expected to pass through LAX for Memorial Day weekend

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Officials say travelers should come prepared when going to Los Angeles International Airport as hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pass through this Memorial Day weekend.

Friday and Monday are expected to be the busiest travel days for LAX with 229,000 and 220,000 people passing through, respectively. The airport is also set to be the busiest one in the country, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Over the four-day weekend, a record 849,000 people are expected to shuffle through the airport, which is an 8.1 percent surge from last year's 785,000 travelers.

Los Angeles will also be busy throughout the holiday because it is ranked 6th on a list of destinations for travelers across the country. Nationally, about 38 million people are expected to head out Memorial Day, a 1.9 percent jump from last year.

About 4.67 million people are expected to travel statewide, which is larger than the record set in 2005. Of those traveling in the state, 2.9 million will be Southern California residents. That marks the largest number of SoCal travelers in more than a decade, according to AAA.

The Automobile Club even broke down how many of those Southland residents will travel by air, sea and car.

• 2.45 million set to travel by car, a 2.7 percent increase from 2015.
• 264,000 expected to travel by plane, a 2.4 percent increase from 2015.
• 176,000 to travel by bus, train, cruise or recreational vehicle.

Travelers heading to LAX are being urged to head in at least two hours ahead of their flight time for domestic trips and at least three hours for international because of possibly long Transportation Security Administration lines.

City News Service contributed to this report.