Record number of travelers expected to take to skies, roads over Thanksgiving holiday

Annette Santilli was pleasantly surprised when she arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport early Tuesday.

With some forecasts calling for a record number of travelers over the Thanksgiving holiday, Santilli, 62, of Clarksburg, W.Va., had expected to see long lines at the Findlay airport.

Instead, Santilli and her 20-year-old daughter Stephanie Santilli breezed through the airport’s main security checkpoint without having to wait in line at all.

“We were worried about wait times, definitely,” said Annette Santilli, who was traveling with her daughter to New York to see a relative perform in the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with West Virginia University’s marching band.

Checkpoint lines at Western Pennsylvania’s busiest airport hovered around 12 minutes or less throughout the morning.

Airport spokesman Bob Kerlik said the Transportation Security Administration shifted its checkpoint lines in Pittsburgh during busy morning hours over the summer to move passengers through more efficiently.

Between 4 and 7 a.m. on weekdays, the airport’s alternate checkpoint is dedicated for passengers in TSA’s PreCheck program, which offers expedited screening for members, while the main checkpoint is for non-PreCheck passengers, he said.

“The shift has streamlined and sped up the passenger experience,” Kerlik said. “When the new terminal opens in 2025, we will have an expanded, consolidated security checkpoint that will improve the passenger experience and help speed the lines.”

Record travel

Officials are expecting record-breaking travel over the Thanksgiving holiday period this year.

TSA projects it will screen 18.3 million people from Tuesday through Monday, a 6% jump from last year.

A record 71.7 million people are expected to travel by car over Thanksgiving, according to AAA, surging beyond the pre-pandemic figure of 70.6 million who drove to Thanksgiving destinations in 2019.

“The holiday season will reflect the robust trends that we have enjoyed throughout the year,” said Bevi Powell, senior vice president of AAA East Central. “Our forecast indicates more Americans are looking for new adventures and memorable vacations as a way to reconnect with family and friends.”

The national passenger rail carrier Amtrak expects to carry more people over the Thanksgiving holiday period than it did last year, according to spokeswoman Beth Toll. She said Amtrak has added routes and the number of trips since last year’s holiday.

Amtrak transported more than 1 million passengers during last year’s Thanksgiving travel period, which it defined as Nov. 18 through Nov. 26, Toll said. Amtrak carried 16% more passengers in 2023 than it did in 2022, an amount equal to about 97% of its pre-covid passenger load, Toll said.

To accommodate this year’s anticipated increase in passengers, Toll said Amtrak has added cars to some Northeast Regional trains and increased the frequency of trips in the Northeast corridor.

Overall, when all modes of transportation are factored in, AAA is projecting that about 79.9 million people will travel at least 50 miles from their homes for the holiday, about 1.7 million more than last year.

At Pittsburgh International, Kerlik said airlines were offering a combined 17,300 seats on flights out of the airport Tuesday, with about the same amount coming in. That number jumps is expected to jump to more than 17,900 seats each way on Wednesday.

‘The best I’ve seen’

The TSA projected that the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving would be the busiest travel days, along with the Sunday after the holiday. The agency expected to screen more than 2.8 million people Tuesday, plus more than 3 million on both Wednesday and Sunday.

The TSA anticipates that those days could outpace the agency’s busiest day on record. The agency said it screened more than 3 million passengers at airport security checkpoints around the nation on July 7, the Sunday after Independence Day.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske in a statement said that the agency is prepared to accommodate the influx of passengers. The TSA anticipates average wait times of no longer than 10 minutes for TSA PreCheck lanes and up to 30 minutes for standard screening.

Dylan Davis, 35, of Pittsburgh’s North Side, said he’s flown to visit his sister in Austin, Texas, nearly every year over the past decade.

As he arrived at the airport just after 9:30 a.m., he said the crowds were what he expected. Wait times to get through the TSA checkpoint at that time were around 10 minutes.

“It’s pretty normal,” he said. “We just expect it to be a little busier than summer.”

Titus Savoie, an oil worker from Louisiana who was flying home for the holiday, said he flies in and out of Pittsburgh International often. He was surprised to see the line wasn’t stretching back longer as it sometimes does on busy travel days.

“This has been the best I’ve seen it in a long time,” he said. “When I came in and saw there’s no line, I was surprised,” Savoie said.

Still, airport security officials have urged passengers to arrive early, avoid putting lithium-ion batteries in checked bags in case they overheat and keep guns out of carry-on bags, the Associated Press reported.

Items like baked goods, meats, stuffing, candy and casseroles can be carried through a TSA checkpoint. Other Thanksgiving staples such as cranberry sauce, gravy, wine and preserves should be carefully packed with checked baggage.

Lower gas prices

Those traveling by car will see lower gas prices this year, according to AAA.

The national average last year hovered around $3.26 a gallon. This year, drivers east of the Rocky Mountains this year can expect to find gas costs as low as $2.25 to $2.50 a gallon in more than a dozen states, according to AAA.

For those hitting the road, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon were expected to have the heaviest traffic, according to INRIX, a transportation data and insights provider. Roads will likely be the emptiest on Thanksgiving day.

INRIX said drivers returning home Sunday should leave early in the morning to avoid the heaviest traffic. People driving home Monday can expect to share the roads not only with other holiday travelers, but also commuters going to and from work.

“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,” INRIX transportation analyst Bob Pishue said in a statement.