The Santa Barbara Airport was originally built in the 1940’s. It was replaced with a $55 mil-lion, 72,000 square foot airport, which opened in 2011. There has been a 27 percent growth in passengers since then and a 79 percent growth is projected by 2032. This might overwhelm the current airport. Last week I noticed signs along Fair view and Hollister Ave. saying that the long-term parking and the 500-space overflow parking were both FULL.
To ready the airport for this flood of travelers, an additional $100 million dollars has been allocated for the expansion. It will add two passenger gates with waiting room space, additional food and retail space on the second floor, and improvements to the ticketing, self-check-in, baggage claim and TSA areas. Additions to the parking structure will be multi-level, with 800-1,400 spaces. The design is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, with construction beginning in 2026, and the entire project completed by 2028.
There are currently 4 regularly scheduled airlines flying into SBA: American, United, Alaska, and the latest addition, Southwest. If you are unfamiliar with Southwest, you must go to their website to book a flight. They do not show up on the aggregator sites, such as Price line, Expedia, or Kayak. Prices on Southwest are competitive and good service is their reputation, + 2 free checked bags and no cancellation or change fees! Less well known is that SBA has occasional flights from Air Canada, Qatar Airways, Austrian Airlines, Avianca , and Air New Zealand.
About 20 percent of the planet seems to be flying through Europe this summer, resulting in 4 hour waits to get from entering the airport to reaching the boarding area. It is still taking about 90 minutes to get through the lines at SBA. If you don’t want to worry about missing a flight, it would be wise to schedule more time to get to the airport.
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Important Things to Make Your Flight More Enjoyable
If you fly Net Jets, Surf Air, or private charters, you won’t need this advice. When flying commercial airlines, you need to overcome the obstacles of seat discomfort and adapting to time zone changes. To arrive refreshed and ready to go, you will need to overcome the limitations of the seats. For better sleeping on the plane, consider bringing a Therma rest back support pillow combined with a curved neck pillow. Add to that a set of earplugs (or noise canceling headphones) and an eye mask. They will help you sleep more peacefully. There is also a homeopathic remedy called Jet Lag that can help with time zone changes. I take a prescription Ambien or an over-the-counter sleep aid to guide me to a good 5-7 hours of refreshing sleep for those long, multi-time zone flights. With a little preparation, you’ll find your long flights to be much more comfortable and transitions to local time easier.
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