Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26 this year, and San Diego International Airport is about to have its busiest stretch of the fall. For the 2025 holiday, SAN told travelers to expect as many as 875,000 people over an 11-day period — up to 80,000 a day, and as many as 90,000 on the Sunday after Thanksgiving alone. There's no reason to expect this year to be quieter. Here's the honest rundown on getting to and from SAN that week: when the crunch actually hits, what each way of getting there costs, and when a flat-rate car is worth it — and when it isn't.
When the crunch hits
Based on the pattern SAN published last year, the heavy days are the Friday through Wednesday before Thanksgiving (this year, November 20–25), then the Sunday after (November 29) as the peak, and the Monday after (November 30).
Within each day, the airport flagged three curbside rush windows:
- 4:00 – 6:15 a.m. — the first-wave departures
- 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. — the late-morning bank
- 8:00 p.m. – midnight — evening arrivals, which is exactly when everyone flying home on Sunday lands
Two more things worth knowing. First, the new Terminal 1 opened in September 2025, but the project isn't finished — more gates are scheduled through 2028 — so if you haven't flown out of SAN in a while, the roads and curb layout may not match your memory. Follow the signs, not your habit. Second, check which terminal your airline uses before you leave the house; the two terminals are connected by a loop shuttle, but walking the wrong curb at 5 a.m. on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is a bad way to start a trip.
Option 1: Drive and park
If you live close to the airport and you're gone two or three nights, parking is often the simplest answer. SAN's Terminal 1 and 2 parking plazas have more than 5,000 spaces next to the terminals, and you can reserve parking in advance at san.org — which we'd strongly recommend for Thanksgiving week rather than gambling on a space Wednesday morning.
The cost math is simple: the current posted daily rate × the number of days you're gone, plus fuel. We won't quote the airport's rates here because they change; check the number on san.org and multiply it out. A long holiday trip — leaving the Friday before and coming back the Sunday after is nine nights — adds up faster than people expect.
Option 2: Rideshare
For one person heading downtown with a carry-on, rideshare is usually the cheapest door-to-curb option, and we'll say so. A ride from Downtown to SAN is short, and on a normal Tuesday nothing we sell beats it on price.
Thanksgiving week isn't a normal Tuesday. Nobody can tell you in advance what the surge will be at 9 p.m. on the Sunday after Thanksgiving; you find out when you open the app at the rideshare pickup area with everyone else from your flight. The trip might be fine. It might cost double and take 25 minutes to match. That uncertainty is the whole tradeoff.
Option 3: A flat-rate car that's already booked
This is what we do, so here's exactly what it costs. Our SAN airport rates are flat, the same at 4:30 a.m. on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as at 2 p.m. on a quiet Tuesday in February:
- Downtown / Gaslamp — $60
- Coronado — $80
- La Jolla / UTC — $90
- Del Mar — $95
- Carlsbad / Encinitas / Solana Beach — $115
- Oceanside / Vista / San Marcos — $130
- Ramona / Fallbrook — $150
- Temecula / Murrieta / Wildomar — $195
Every rate includes fuel, luggage handling, flight tracking, meet & greet inside the terminal on arrival, and 60 minutes of free wait time after you land. The full breakdown is on our SAN airport car service page.
The real math, two ways
Where we usually lose: one traveler, Downtown, a short trip, carry-on only. $60 each way is $120 round trip. Rideshare will usually come in under that even with some surge, and two nights of parking may too. If that's you, book the app and save the money.
Where it gets close or flips: a family of four in Carlsbad, gone nine nights over the holiday, with four checked bags and two car seats' worth of stuff. Our round trip is $115 × 2 = $230, fixed. Compare that against nine days of parking plus the drive — or against two rideshare trips that may need an XL, at whatever the surge is on the Sunday night everyone comes home. Run the parking number from san.org yourself; for a long trip from North County, $230 is often in the same range or less, and nobody has to drive the 5 a.m. leg or hunt for the car at midnight.
Luggage matters more than people think at the holidays. A Suburban or Escalade ESV seats up to six with their bags; an app that only promises a seat count sometimes sends a car that can't fit them. We covered the actual numbers in Suburban luggage capacity vs. Uber.
Coming home on the Sunday
The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the day SAN expects the most people, and the evening rush is when holiday arrivals bunch up. That's where a booked pickup earns its keep. We track the flight, so a delay moves the pickup instead of starting a meter, and the 60 minutes of free wait time starts after you land — a slow baggage carousel doesn't cost extra. Your chauffeur meets you inside the terminal; you don't stand at the rideshare area refreshing an app.
Flying out of LAX for the holiday?
Some international and nonstop holiday itineraries only work out of Los Angeles. Our San Diego ↔ LAX transfer is a flat $375 each way, starting or ending in San Diego County — details on the San Diego to LAX page, and the honest comparison with UberX and Uber Black in our LAX cost breakdown. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I-5 north is its own story; leave far more buffer than you think you need.
Thanksgiving-week checklist
- Book the ride or the parking now. Holiday mornings fill first, for us and for the parking plazas.
- Check your terminal with your airline before you leave.
- Avoid the rush windows if your flight time gives you a choice — and pad your departure if it doesn't.
- Count the bags, not just the people. It decides which vehicle you need.
- Send us your flight number for any arrival pickup so we can track it.
How to book
Enter your flight, pickup address and passenger count at pacificeliterides.com/booking — it takes about two minutes and shows the flat rate before you send it — or call (619) 394-5340. We confirm within 15 minutes, no prepayment required. Every rate we charge is listed on our services page, so the number you budget for the holiday is the number you pay.