Record number of travelers expected over Thanksgiving week

Scott Arnould expected traffic and long lines when he arrived at Chicago O’Hare International Airport more than four hours before his flight home to Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Tuesday, as experts warned of the busiest Thanksgiving travel week ever.

But instead of hourslong wait times, Arnould, 53, found himself sitting comfortably by the airport’s entrance outside security at 11 a.m., an hour before his flight, biding his time in front of a short queue.

“There’s no line,” he said. “I thought it would be horrible, so I got up early and got over here.”

Whether people are moving by rail, road or air, the days around Thanksgiving are among the busiest travel days of the year in the United States, and this year is expected to break records. The Transportation Security Administration said it expected to screen 18.3 million travelers from Tuesday through Monday – about 6% more than in 2023. AAA, the automobile organization, expects a record number of travelers, including nearly 72 million motorists.

This year, winter weather events may also cause delays and hamper plans. The Midwest is expecting a wind chill, while the South and Northeast are expecting a cold, rainy storm system. Snow is also possible in parts of the Northeast. Forecasters on Wednesday issued winter storm warnings for parts of Colorado and Utah, warning that heavy snow there could make travel difficult or impossible.

The TSA “is well prepared for this holiday,” R. Carter Langston, a spokesperson for the agency, said Tuesday. And while Wednesday and Sunday are expected to be the busiest days for air travel, with about 3 million travelers expected on each, Langston said that agents were still working to meet the wait time goals of 30 minutes for standard security screenings and 10 minutes for TSA PreCheck.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that some flights arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were delayed by an average of 1 hour and 35 minutes because of staffing issues. There were also delays at the airport Tuesday night because of staffing challenges.

Crowds at O’Hare ebbed and flowed Tuesday afternoon. Melvin Ewulony, 29, of Philadelphia, sat by a window and waited for his moment to join the line for a security checkpoint.

“It’s crazier than I expected,” he said. But he added that the line “moves pretty fast.” Wait times rarely went over 15 minutes.

More people are expected to travel on the Tuesday before and the Monday after Thanksgiving in part because of flexible work patterns that took hold at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Remote work has changed things so that a lot of people can work remotely from their destination,” said Aixa Diaz, a spokesperson for AAA, which also analyzes air travel. She noted that domestic travel was expected to exceed prepandemic levels.

Weather challenges across the United States also threatened travel plans.

Lake-effect snow is expected along the eastern Great Lakes. Travel disruptions are likely, especially on Interstate 90 between Cleveland and Buffalo, New York, and on Interstate 81 north of Syracuse, New York, forecasters warned.

But at O’Hare, where freezing air blasted into the terminal, as people constantly walked in and out of the automatic glass doors, there was a sense of calm.

Lines were never overwhelming, and most travelers – even those with young children and little dogs – seemed relaxed.

Returning travelers said their experience going through security, boarding and flying was a smooth operation. Beth Katona, 55, of Portland, Oregon, flew into Chicago on Tuesday afternoon and said that security was fast and that there was even an empty seat next to her on the plane.

“It’s actually been pretty flawless,” Katona said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.