But as people get ready to drive, fly or ride the train in and out of the San Joaquin Valley, the area’s transportation services are offering ways to ease those holiday hassles.

The American Automobile Association, a national auto insurance and service provider, released its annual survey on holiday travel, predicting more than 4.6 million Californians plan to travel 50 miles or more during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Of the state’s holiday travelers, 81 percent or 3.7 million will travel by car, 14 percent or 646,000 by plane and the remaining 220,000 people will get to their holiday destinations by public transportation.

To accommodate the increase in travelers, Sacramento International Airport is offering a discount holiday parking rate from Wednesday to Monday and again from Thursday, Dec. 22, through Monday, Jan. 4.

Those parking in airport lots during these periods will receive $1 off each day in economy, $2 off for daily parking and $3 off on hourly parking.

The airport also offers 30 minutes of free parking in the airport’s hourly lot so people arriving to pick up arriving passengers don’t need to circle the terminal in their vehicles. Inside the terminal, the airport will feature holiday entertainment and “free chair massages to ease holiday stress,” according to a statement.

An estimated 340,000 passengers will travel through Oakland’s airport during the eight-day Thanksgiving travel period that begins today. According to a news release by the airport, that’s a 3 percent increase from last year.

Airport officials expect the economy parking lot will fill by Wednesday evening, but travelers are guaranteed a spot through a program that offers parking upgrades to people who can’t find parking at any of the airport’s other lots.

Oakland also offers a “Park & Call” lot in which people can park for free for 30 minutes and arrange meeting friends and relatives arriving at the airport via cell phones.

To help make traveling a little easier, the airport is offering SFO Passport, a free booklet with coupons for gifts-with-purchases and discounts for meals and even facials.

The company says Thanksgiving is typically the busiest time of the year. To accommodate the extra passengers it has added more cars to its San Joaquin trains.

Nationwide, Amtrak expects to serve more than 600,000 passengers during the holiday week with Wednesday being the busiest day. People making their holiday trip by train are also reminded to bring only two carry-on bags per person and to be at the station at least 40 minutes before departure.

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