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Thanksgiving travel in 2022 goes up, but not as much as it did before the pandemic. AAA predicts that almost 55 million Americans will travel during the long holiday weekend.
AAA thinks that 54.6 million people will travel at least 50 miles for Thanksgiving. That’s a 1.5% rise from 2021 and 98% of the volume before the pandemic. This Thanksgiving is expected to be the third busiest since AAA began keeping track in 2000.
AAA’s Senior Vice President of Travel, Paula Twidale, says Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel times in the past 20 years because families and friends want to spend time together. “Whether you’re driving or flying, plan ahead and bring patience.”
As they did last year, most people will drive to their destinations. It is expected that almost 49 million people will travel by car. Even though Thanksgiving road trips have gone up by 0.4% since 2021, they are still 2.5% less than what they were in 2019.
This year, 4.5 million Americans will fly to their Thanksgiving destinations, which is nearly 8% more than in 2021. That’s a rise of more than 330,000 travellers and almost 99% of the total number of travellers in 2019. “Airport parking spots fill up quickly, so book one ahead of time and get there early,” says Twidale. “Expect long lines at the TSA.” If you can, don’t check a bag. This will give you more options if your flight is late or you need to reschedule.
Americans are also travelling more by plane, train, and automobile. More than 1.4 million people are taking a bus, train, or cruise ship out of town for Thanksgiving. That’s 23% more than in 2021 and 96% more than in 2019. “It’s not surprising that buses, trains, and cruises are making a big comeback now that travel restrictions have been lifted and more people feel comfortable taking public transportation again,” says Twidale. “There will be a lot of people on your trip and where you are going, no matter how you get there.” If you have a flexible schedule, you might want to think about travelling when there aren’t as many people around.
INRIX predicts that traffic will be very bad in a number of U.S. cities, with some drivers waiting more than twice as long as usual. The busiest highways will be in and around Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles. INRIX suggests travelling early in the morning on Wednesday, before 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, or between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to avoid the busiest times.
“Thanksgiving is one of the busiest times for road trips, and this year will be no different,” says Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX. “The busiest time for travel across the country will be Wednesday afternoon, but people should expect much more traffic than usual over the holiday weekend.” Drivers can avoid the stress of being stuck in traffic if they know when and where it will get bad.
Together with AAA, S&P Global Market Intelligence came up with a unique way to predict the number of actual domestic trips. The economic factors that are used to predict travel for this holiday come from S&P Global Market Intelligence’s own databases. These data include macroeconomic drivers like employment, output, household net worth, asset prices, like stock indices, interest rates, housing market indicators, and variables related to travel and tourism, like gas prices, airline travel, and hotel stays. Since 2000, AAA and S&P Global Market Intelligence have kept track of how many people travel for the holidays.
DK Shifflet’s Travel Performance and Monitoring gives estimates of the number of trips taken in the past. Performance and Monitoring is a large study that looks at how people in the U.S. travel. DK Shifflet talks to more than 50,000 U.S. households every month to get detailed travel data. This gives them the unique ability to estimate the number of visitors and how much they spend, find trends, and predict how Americans will travel in the future, all based on trips that have already happened.
Person-trips are used to measure the travel forecast. AAA and S&P Global Market Intelligence predict, in particular, how many people will travel during the holidays in the U.S. and how they will get there. The information in this report about travel was made for the week of October 10, 2022.
Travel Time Around Thanksgiving
The Thanksgiving travel period is from Wednesday, November 23, through Sunday, November 27. The period from Wednesday to Sunday is the same as in years past.
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