At Thanksgiving 2025, the U.S. airline industry has plenty to be thankful for as it enjoys one of the best moments in its history.
Traffic, by many measures, is at an all-time high. People, rich and poor alike, prioritize travel experiences, a trend once termed “revenge travel” that seems not to have slackened since the pandemic ended. Delta Air Lines, which has fashioned a premium product in a commodity business, is still finding new ways to boost its fare premium.
Delta shares are trading at an all-time high, while shares in United Airlines are near an all-time high. (American Airlines stock lags, priced around 25% of its post-bankruptcy high.)
Among the many statistics that underscore industry success, officials at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the second busiest American hub, told reporters on Thursday that this year, the airport has seen the 14 busiest days in its history as well as 23 of the 25 busiest days in its history.
An expected total of 43,500 local passengers on Sunday Dec. 1, the likely heaviest travel day of the holiday period, would be the fourth highest day in Charlotte airport history.
Charlotte reflects a national pattern. The Transportation Security Administration expects the busiest Thanksgiving travel period ever. The agency said that the ten busiest travel days in its history have all occurred in 2024, and it expects the trend to continue.
Travel spending is up for every stratum of society, said Sally French, travel expert for Nerd Wallet, a San Francisco-based personal finance website.
“People feel empowered to do bigger trips, luxury trips,” French said in an interview. “They are booking over-the-top trips. They want to spend on experiences, rather than buy more clothes, and they are paying for extras that make their trips more enjoyable. They are okay with upgrading their seat to have more legroom. They pay for Clear so they won’t have to spend their trip waiting in line. They have the idea that they want to make their trip stress free and more enjoyable.”
It’s not just wealthy people who are flying. French said that 28% of 2023 holiday travelers have not paid off the credit card balances for travel expenses. “We are seeing people doing really well who are booking expensive trips, but there are some people going into debt for travel,” she said. “They want to travel and can’t pay it off.”
This week, both United and Delta detailed ways in which people with money remain extremely willing to spend it on upgraded flight experiences.
Holiday bookings to European destinations are up nearly 30% compared to 2019 and up almost 10% versus last year, United said Tuesday in a press release. United expects the 2024 holiday period to be its busiest yet, with around 25 million passengers, up 6% from 2023.
“European Christmas markets have become even more popular in recent years,” said Darren Scott, United’s Director of Atlantic and Hawaii Planning. He cited Christmas markets in Dresden, Strasbourg, Vienna and Cologne. United offers nearly 60 daily flights from its U.S. hubs to European cities with holiday markets.
On a call with reporters on Tuesday, Delta President Glen Hauenstein described a strategy to boost profits by enabling passengers to more specifically secure benefits when they buy premium seats. “We are building a customized experience,” Hauenstein said, noting that the industry “is catching up with the ability to sell its product in a very different way” as technology improves.
Before Delta’s bankruptcy , which ended in 2007, Delta and other airlines relied on a now antiquated pricing strategy. Passengers “paid higher prices if we were running out of inventory” or travel was imminent, Hauenstein said. That meant that “Business customers who bought last and paid the highest fares wounded up sitting in the middle seat,” he said.
But Delta is increasingly sophisticated at internet sales, said CEO Ed Bastian. “We’re the fifth largest retailer in the country,” he said. “We’re already in the big leagues.”
Meanwhile, American said it expects to carry 8.3 million passengers during the Thanksgiving travel period from Nov. 21 to Dec. 3. That is about 500,000 more passengers than last year. At 10:45 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1, the busiest day, 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be in flight,
Also, the airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies to passengers from Nov. 21 to Dec. 3. If placed in a line, these cookies would stretch nearly the distance of a flight from New York LaGuardia to Charlotte.
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