Thanksgiving Travel Latest: TSA braces for ‘busiest ever’ holiday

The Thanksgiving travel rush is expected to be bigger than ever this year. AAA predicts that nearly 80 million people in the U.S. will venture at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home between Tuesday and next Monday.

Another round of wintry weather could complicate travel, though. California and Washington state continue to recover from damage and power outages from last week’s storms. And an ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers could cause flight delays at some airports.

Meanwhile, workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport began what was expected to be a 24-hour strike on Monday over their demands for higher wages. Only a handful of flights were canceled, and there were fewer than 100 delays.

Here's the latest:

Flight delays still well below average for a holiday week, FlightAware says

“We’re looking at them to possibly stay fairly low (through the week),” said FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs. “The busiest day will be this coming Sunday. Overall, we’re not looking at a major storm system that will shut any major airport down, so that’s great news.”

Currently, there are no projected delays — and only a handful of cancellations — for Wednesday or Thursday.

There were more than 2,200 flight delays into, out of, or within the U.S. midday Tuesday, with about 60 total cancellations, according to FlightAware, which tracks aviation trends across the country.

What will traffic be like this week?

Drivers should know that Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons will be the worst times to travel by car, but it should be smooth sailing on freeways come Thanksgiving Day, according to transportation analytics company INRIX.

On the return home, the best travel times for motorists are before 1 p.m. on Sunday, and before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m. on Monday, the company said.

In metropolitan areas like Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Washington, “traffic is expected to be more than double what it typically is on a normal day,” INRIX transportation analyst Bob Pishue said.

Road-tripping it this week? You might pay less at the pump

Motorists planning to hit the road for the Thanksgiving holiday could enjoy gas prices below a national average of $3 per gallon for the first time since 2021, according to AAA.

The company reported gas prices in nearly a dozen states east of the Rockies on Tuesday between $2.50 and $2.75 per gallon.

The lowest average gas prices of $2.51 and $2.62 for a gallon of regular unleaded were reported in Oklahoma and Mississippi, respectively, on Tuesday, while the highest prices were $4.57 in Hawaii and $4.43 in California.

Ahead of busy travel period, Senate panel blasts airlines over ‘junk fees’

“As we head into the Thanksgiving weekend, we regret that travelers will be charged millions of dollars in fees that have no basis in cost to the airlines but simply fatten their bottom lines,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

The panel said Tuesday that American, Delta, United, Frontier, and Spirit raised $12.4 billion in fees for better seats between 2018 and 2023. Passengers paid extra to get more legroom or an aisle or window seat.

The panel also announced it will call executives from five airlines to explain why they levy those extra charges.

Airlines for America, the leading trade group for big U.S. carriers, dismissed the panel’s report as “just another holiday-travel talking point.”

The group said fees give consumers the choice of paying for the services they want and skipping ones they don’t. It said that after accounting for inflation, average U.S. round-trip travel including fees dropped 14% from 2010 to 2023.

Current flight delays aren’t unusually high for the holiday week

There were about 1,900 flight delays into, out of or within the U.S. on Tuesday, with about 60 total cancellations, according to FlightAware, which tracks aviation trends across the country.

Those numbers are not unusually high for a high-travel holiday week. Currently, there are no projected delays — and only a handful of cancellations — for Wednesday or Thursday.

Boston Logan International Airport was experiencing delays averaging about 43 minutes at mid-day on Tuesday for inbound flights due to low clouds, FlightAware reported, while departure delays were increasing at Phoenix Sky Harbor — something attributed to high traffic volume.

An Arctic blast and wet weather could disrupt US travel plans

A storm system currently moving across the West Coast is expected to bring heavy snow on Wednesday to the Colorado Rockies, the Bitterroot Range in Idaho and Montana and the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center reported.

On Thanksgiving Day, forecasters are predicting rain showers across portions of the Mid-South and the Ohio River Valley, with Arctic air plunging into the upper Plains, dropping temperatures into the teens and 20s.

More bitter cold is forecast for Friday from the Plains to the Great Lakes region, with high temperatures as low as 25 degrees below average and wind chills making it feel even colder.

On Saturday, near record-warm temperatures in all of the Great Lakes are expected to lead to a round of lake-effect snow, including heavy snowfall downwind of Lakes Ontario and Erie, NOAA reported.

Forecasters expect cold conditions to persist across the Northeast and Midwest on Sunday but don’t anticipate the wintry weather to cause travel delays on interstates or airports.

Lake-effect snow is expected to continue on Sunday across a wide swathe of the U.S. from Michigan to New York.

Arkansas state police are warning drivers to avoid aggressive driving

“As the holiday season kicks off this week, people are traveling more and have higher levels of stress,” Arkansas State Police Col. Mike Hagar said in a statement. “Road rage is a lose/lose situation that could cost you your life.”

The Arkansas State Police has reported an increase in road rage and aggressive driving, with more than 700 road rage cases reported so far in 2024, including 300 cases involving weapons. In 2023, the Associated Press investigated 284 road rage incidents with weapons.

The ASP urges people who encounter an aggressive driver to avoid engaging with them, increase the distance between vehicles, try not to make eye contact and never pull off the roadway to confront them.

Thanksgiving travelers are OK to bring turkey, stuffing and more through checkpoints, TSA says

Want to know what kinds of foods you can carry through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint? Here’s a list of some of the approved items:

Turkey? Yes.

Macaroni and cheese? Yes.

Gravy? Yes.

“Gravy and cranberry sauce need to be in 3.4-ounce quantities or less. And I would say, especially when it comes to gravy, I wouldn’t want that in my carry-on luggage,” TSA spokesperson Lorie Dankers said. “And I definitely wouldn’t want it in my checked baggage.”

Dankers said gravy is a prime example of a “make it at your destination” item. Stuffing is considered a solid and is OK to carry on. Pies are, too, but they require some extra scrutiny, Dankers said.

“Be prepared for that. You’ll be present for that,” she said. “But our officers are just making sure that nothing poses a security threat.”

Thanksgiving brings out infrequent travelers, and they often have questions about what they can bring on the plane. The TSA encourages them to download the agency’s smartphone app, which includes a “What can I bring” feature. TSA representatives also will be fielding questions on Facebook and X.

Officials are investigating two separate cases of physical contact between planes in Boston

Officials are investigating the incidents that took place at Boston Logan International Airport on Monday. Both happened at a slow rate of speed.

In the first one, the wingtips of a Frontier Airlines plane and an American Airlines plane touched while at the gate on Monday afternoon, Samanta Decker, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Port Authority, said Tuesday. There were no injuries, but the planes were deboarded and needed to be checked for damage, she said.

American Airlines said in a statement that the contact was made as its plane, which had arrived from London, was pulling into the gate. The other plane was stationary. It said there were no injuries.

“The aircraft has been removed from service for inspection by our maintenance team,” its statement said.

On Monday night, a tug vehicle towing an empty JetBlue plane struck a Cape Air plane. The two Cape Air pilots were taken to a hospital as a precaution, Decker said. The tug has been removed from service, and the JetBlue aircraft will undergo a thorough inspection, JetBlue said in a statement.

What the striking airport workers said

“We cannot live on the wages that we are being paid,” ABM cabin cleaner Priscilla Hoyle said at a rally Monday. “I can honestly say it’s hard every single day with my children, working a full-time job but having to look my kids in the eyes and sit there and say, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to have a home today.’”

Timothy Lowe II, a wheelchair attendant, said he has to figure out where to spend the night because he doesn’t make enough for a deposit on a home.

“We just want to be able to have everything that’s a necessity paid for by the job that hired us to do a great job so they can make billions,” he said.

ABM said it is “committed to addressing concerns swiftly” and that there are avenues for employees to communicate issues, including a national hotline and a “general open door policy for managers at our worksite.”

Tips to make holiday travel a bit easier

Travel can be stressful in the best of times. Now add in the high-level anxiety that seems to be baked into every holiday season and it’s clear travelers could use some help calming frazzled nerves.

Here are a few ways to make your holiday journey a little less stressful:

1. Make a checklist of what you need to do and what you need to bring

2. Carry your comfort with you — think noise-canceling headphones, cozy clothes, snacks and extra medication

3. Stay hydrated

4. Keep up to date on delays, gate changes and cancellations with your airline’s app

▶ Read more tips about staying grounded during holiday travel

Thanksgiving travel, by the numbers

5. Auto club and insurance company AAA predicts that nearly 80 million Americans will venture at least 50 miles from home between Tuesday and next Monday. Most of them will travel by car.

6. Drivers should get a slight break on gas prices. The nationwide average price for gasoline was $3.06 a gallon on Sunday, down from $3.27 at this time last year.

7. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 18.3 million people at U.S. airports during the same seven-day stretch. That would be 6% more than during the corresponding days last year but fit a pattern set throughout 2024.

8. The TSA predicts that 3 million people will pass through airport security checkpoints on Sunday; more than that could break the record of 3.01 million set on the Sunday after the July Fourth holiday. Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to be the next busiest air travel days of Thanksgiving week.

▶ Read more about Thanksgiving travel across the U.S.

Forecasts warn of possible winter storms across US during Thanksgiving week

Another round of wintry weather could complicate travel leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, according to forecasts across the U.S., while California and Washington state continue to recover from storm damage and power outages.

In California, where two people were found dead in floodwaters on Saturday, authorities braced for more rain while grappling with flooding and small landslides from a previous storm.

Here’s a look at some of the regional forecasts:

9. Sierra Nevada: The National Weather Service office issued a winter storm warning through Tuesday, with heavy snow expected at higher elevations and wind gusts potentially reaching 55 mph (88 kph). Total snowfall of roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) was forecast, with the heaviest accumulations expected Monday and Tuesday.

10. Midwest and Great Lakes: The Midwest and Great Lakes regions will see rain and snow Monday and the East Coast will be the most impacted on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, forecasters said.

11. East Coast: A low pressure system is forecast to bring rain to the Southeast early Thursday before heading to the Northeast. Areas from Boston to New York could see rain and breezy conditions, with snowfall possible in parts of northern New Hampshire, northern Maine and the Adirondacks. If the system tracks further inland, there could be less snow and more rain in the mountains, forecasters said.

▶ Read more about Thanksgiving week weather forecasts