How to Avoid Traffic (and Crowds in General) During Thanksgiving Travel
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Stressful airport crowds and bumper-to-bumper highway traffic is increasingly becoming a Thanksgiving tradition, on par with roasted turkey and football games.
But 2024 will truly be a banner year in terms of mass travel: Nearly 80 million people plan to travel for Thanksgiving, according to predictions from AAA released on Monday. The number of Turkey Day travelers is expected to shatter all previous records. In fact, AAA says that 2 million more people will travel 50 miles or more away from home in 2024 than in 2019, before the pandemic.
In order to get even more accurate predictions, the organization included the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and the Monday after the holiday in its predictions for the first time ever. “Thanksgiving is the busiest holiday for travel, and this year we’re expecting to set new records across the board, from driving to flying and cruising,” Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel Services, said in a statement.
Read on for tips on how best to avoid the crowds and Thanksgiving traffic when traveling during holiday week, whether you’re planning a trip by car, train, or plane.
Road trips
The bulk of travelers—a whopping 71.7 million people—are expected to take a road trip this Thanksgiving, according to AAA. That’s 1.3 million more people traveling by car than in 2023.
That means traffic will also be at an all-time high during the holiday travel period. “With a record number of travelers expected to be on the road, drivers should follow traffic apps and local news alerts to avoid major delays,” Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst at Inrix, which works with AAA on traffic predictions, said in a statement. “This is especially important for drivers in metropolitan areas like Boston, New York, LA, Seattle, and Washington, DC, where traffic is expected to be more than double what it typically is on a normal day.”
A good rule of thumb is to avoid driving during the middle of the day and early evening. The worst departure times are expected to be the Monday (November 25) and Wednesday (November 27) before Thanksgiving from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday (November 26) from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Inrix data shows that the best times to head out on your road trip include early morning on the Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday before Thanksgiving—anytime before 10 a.m. should see less traffic. Returning home, aim to hit the road before 1 p.m. on the following Saturday and Sunday, and you’ll beat the worst of the highway congestion. A minimal amount of traffic is expected on Thanksgiving Day itself, making it an ideal road trip day if you have flexible plans.
Inrix also has identified the peak congestion times in 16 major metro areas across the country. If you are planning to drive to or from a big US city, it’s worth taking a look at their estimates, as leaving at the wrong time can significantly delay your journey. Leaving Washington DC on Tuesday, November 26 at 4:30 p.m., for instance, can result in a hitting traffic that’s 120% higher than usual. Similar slogs are expected on Tuesday in Seattle, where congestion will hit its peak on the November 26 at 7 p.m., resulting in 119% more congestion than normal; and in New York, where traffic levels will crest to 133% higher than normal levels at 4:30 p.m.
For anyone planning to rent a car, take note that rental company Hertz says that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will likely be the busiest pick-up day at lots across the country, while the most popular car drop-off days will be on the following Monday and Tuesday. The destinations with the highest demand for rental cars are expected to be Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Oahu, Orlando, and Phoenix. If you’ve reserved a car in one of those cities, you’ll want to plan ahead to avoid snaking lines at the reservations desk. Pro tip: Download your car rental company’s app for a smoother pick-up process. Hertz, for instance, offers an express check-in option through its app that allows drivers to skip the line at the lot. Budget Rent-a-Car has its free FastBreak program, which provides members with an expedited drop-off and pick-up service, and Enterprise offers ReadyPass, a quicker way for drivers to check-in through their email.
Trains
About 2.3 million people will travel by trains, buses, and cruises, according to AAA. That’s a 9% increase over last year’s numbers.
Amtrak, for its part, has said that it expects a “surge of customers” during Thanksgiving week 2024. To accommodate the deluge of passengers, “Amtrak is deploying all available equipment—adding extra cars to Northeast Regional and Midwest trains and increasing trip frequencies between November 25 and December 2 between a number of popular destinations along the Northeast Corridor (NEC), including Washington, DC, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston, among others,” the train company said in a recent statement.
Although riding on Amtrak can feel a bit calmer than contending with the security checkpoint at an airport, crowds can still make the train a stressful experience. The fact that the train company’s coach seating is mostly on a first-come, first-served basis can add even more tension to the ride. If you want to eliminate the game of musical chairs on your train, consider upgrading to Amtrak business class, which comes with assigned seating. The company offers a bidding program on most routes that allows passengers to score an assigned seat—and also more leg room and unlimited soft drinks—at affordable price points.
Air travel
AAA predicts the number of people flying domestically for Turkey Day will jump 2% in 2024 compared to last year. According to their projections, nearly 6 million people will board domestic flights over the holiday.
Travel booking site Hopper predicts that a total of 36.5 million seats—which counts domestic and international flights, as well as departing and return trips—will fly from US airports from Saturday November 23 to Tuesday December 3. That’s a 5% increase from last year.
Those types of numbers nearly guarantee longer-than-normal wait times at security checkpoints. For the smoothest experience, remember to put your Known Traveler Number (also known as a KTN, or the personal identification sequence for Global Entry and TSA PreCheck members) on your boarding pass before check-in. If you forgot to add it during the booking process, you can call your airline to have it added before check-in, or stop by the ticket desk at the airport after check-in.
You can also strategically time your arrival at the airport to avoid the worst crowds. Hopper was able to pull a list of the busiest US airports during Thanksgiving week, along with the times each hub is expected to be the most crowded:
These are the busiest airports over Thanksgiving Week, according to Hopper:
Atlanta (ATL) busiest travel time: morning (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW) busiest travel time: morning (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Denver (DEN) busiest travel time: morning (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Los Angeles (LAX) busiest travel time: morning (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Chicago (ORD) busiest travel time: morning (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
New York City (JFK) busiest travel time: evening (4 p.m. - 8 p.m.)
Orlando (MCO) busiest travel time: evening (4 p.m. - 8 p.m.)
Las Vegas (LAS) busiest travel time: morning (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Phoenix (PHX) busiest travel time: morning (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Charlotte (CLT) busiest travel time: morning (8 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
If you’re traveling through any of the above airports, minimize wait times by avoiding checking luggage or going through security during the peak travel hours if at all possible. Sometimes, however, being a part of the crowd is unavoidable given your flight departure time. If that’s the case, you can go online and book an appointment time to go through security at one of the 20 airports that use the Reserve by Clear service. And remember that during busy travel periods like Thanksgiving, you should always adhere to the rule of thumb to arrive at the airport two hours before departure for domestic flights and three hours ahead for international flights. A record-breaking travel week is not a time to cut it close—but with a little planning, contending with even the biggest crowds can feel more manageable.
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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