It is not your imagination: Traffic at the airports — even before you get inside — has gotten worse. The cause is not just the record number of travelers. It's also the shift to ride sharing.

One frequent business traveler says her own experience bears this out.

"Airports were planned for taxi lines, not this other large vehicle transportation mode," said Tanvi Gandham, a management consultant.

To address the crowding, airports are starting to make changes, adding express lanes for travelers without checked bags, separate areas for ride-share companies and larger off-site lots for waiting. At the same time, ride-share companies like Lyft and Uber are adding new capabilities to their apps, matching, for example, drivers who have just dropped off passengers with people waiting to be picked up, cutting down the time vehicles are circulating and waiting.