Thanksgiving travel rush is back
The Thanksgiving travel rush was back on this year, as people caught planes in numbers not seen in years, setting aside inflation concerns to reunite with loved ones and enjoy some normalcy after two holiday seasons marked by COVID-19 restrictions.
Changing habits around work and play, however, might spread out the crowds and reduce the usual amount of holiday travel stress. Experts say many people will start holiday trips early or return home later than normal because they will spend a few days working remotely — or at least tell the boss they’re working remotely.
The busiest travel days during Thanksgiving week are usually Tuesday, Wednesday and the Sunday after the holiday. This year, the Federal Aviation Administration expects Tuesday to be the busiest travel day with roughly 48,000 scheduled flights.
Chris Williams, of Raleigh, N.C., flew Tuesday morning, with his wife and two kids to Atlanta, Ga., to spend the holiday with extended family.
“Of course it’s a stressful and expensive time to fly,” Williams, 44, who works in finance, said. “But after a couple years of not getting to spend Thanksgiving with our extended family, I’d say we’re feeling thankful that the world’s gotten to a safe enough place where we can be with loved ones again.”
Although Williams said the
family’s budget has been tight this year, he’s capitalized on the opportunity to teach his kids some personal finance basics. His youngest, 11, has been learning how to budget her allowance money since March and is excited to buy small gifts for her friends, on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. “Probably slime,” she said, “with glitter.”
The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 2.6 million travelers, on Monday, surpassing the 2.5 million screened the Monday before Thanksgiving, in 2019. The same trend occurred Sunday, marking the first year that the number of people catching planes on
Thanksgiving week surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
“People are traveling on different days. Not everyone is traveling on that Wednesday night,” Sharon Pinkerton, senior vice president at the trade group Airlines for America said. “People are spreading their travel out throughout the week, which I also think will help ensure smoother operations.”
AAA predicts that 54.6 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home in the US this week, a 1.5% bump over Thanksgiving, last year and only 2% less than in 2019. The auto club and insurance seller says nearly 49 million of those will travel by car and 4.5 million will fly between Wednesday and Sunday.
US airlines struggled to keep up as the number of passengers surged this year.
“We did have a challenging summer,” said Pinkerton, whose group speaks for members including American, United and Delta. She said that airlines have pared their schedules and hired thousands of workers — they now have more pilots than before the pandemic. “As a result, we’re confident that the week is going to go well.”
US airlines plan to operate 13% fewer flights, this week, than during Thanksgiving week, in 2019. However, by using larger planes on average, the number of seats will drop only 2%, according to data from travel-researcher Cirium.
Airlines continue to blame flight disruptions on shortages of air traffic controllers, especially in Florida, a major holiday destination.
Controllers, who work for the Federal Aviation Administration, “get tested around the holidays. That seems to be when we have challenges,” Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said a few days ago. “The FAA is adding another 10% to headcount, hopefully that’s enough.”