Here's when to travel to avoid bad traffic this holiday season

• It's the second-highest year-end travel forecast since AAA began tracking holiday travel in 2000.

The big picture: The forecast rounds off a year when holiday travel records were set around Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.

Zoom in: Bay Area airports are anticipating over 1.4 million air travelers, per TSA estimates.

• San Francisco International Airport is expecting to screen roughly 493,000 people Dec. 17-23 — a 14% increase in passenger traffic from December 2022.
• San José Mineta International Airport is likely to screen over 120,000 departing travelers during the same week, with over 9% growth compared to last year.
• Oakland International Airport is projected to screen nearly 110,000 people.

What to watch: SFO has already reported hundreds of flight delays this week due to stormy weather and rain.

• Last year, flight delays and cancellations nationwide wreaked havoc on holiday travel, including a major winter storm and Southwest Airlines meltdown.

What they're saying: To minimize slowdowns, TSA is advising travelers to use gift bags instead of wrapping paper so security officers won't have to unwrap a gift if it sets off an alarm.

• "We encourage everyone to do their part to prepare for the security screening process," Fred Lau, TSA federal security director at SFO, said in a press release.

Threat level: INRIX, a transportation data company, says this Saturday and Thursday, Dec. 28, are the most congested days on the road. Drivers could find 20% longer travel times nationwide, INRIX transportation analyst Bob Pishue said.

• Major metros could experience nearly double the typical delays, Pishue said.
• San Francisco's peak congestion is predicted to hit this Saturday around 5:15pm on I-80 East from San Francisco to Sacramento.
• INRIX said that trip will take about 1 hour, 49 minutes — 73% above average.

Of note: The best travel time on Saturday is before 10am and before noon Dec. 26-30.