Thanksgiving Travel: What to Expect
According to the AAA motorist group’s estimates, while more Americans are expected to travel for Thanksgiving this year, many will be avoiding the airports and opting to drive.
How Will Americans Travel?
AAA’s estimates predict that 38.4 million Americans are going to travel at least 50 miles from their homes for Thanksgiving weekend this year. This estimation is 1.4% higher than last year’s travel numbers, when 37.8 Americans traveled for the holiday. AAA estimates that the average distance traveled over the holiday weekend will be 815 miles per family, but more than one third of travelers will cover less than 250 miles.
Out of those travelers, 33.2% are predicted to travel by car. This estimation is a 2.1% increase from the number of Thanksgiving travelers in 2008.
But as road travel increases, air travel will continue to decrease. Thanksgiving airline travel has steadily decreased by 62% since 2000, and that trend will continue to drop this year. In 2009, air travel is expected to decrease by 6.7%, meaning there will be 2.3 million fewer travelers in our nation’s airports before and after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Other modes of transportation such as train, bus and boat are expected to increase. AA predicts that these alternative methods of travel are should gain 1.2% more travelers, moving up to 2.9 million Americans.
How will this affect your travel?
When planning your travel this year, keep in mind that there will be more cars on the highway and fewer people in airports.
This means you may want to budget more travel time if you’re driving this year. You’ll also want to be sure to be alert to avoid any accidents on roads that are bound to be filled with stressed holiday drivers.
In airports, however, travel could be a little more relaxing. While it’s always recommended that you get to the airport early to make sure you get through security in time to catch your flight, you may be pleasantly surprised by less crowded airline terminals this year.
