America travels for Thanksgiving 2022

More than 54 million people were expected to travel 50 miles or more from home this Thanksgiving, according to AAA.

The agency said the worst time for road travel Wednesday was between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET.

As one of the busiest travel days since 2019 comes to close, here’s a look at highways and airports across the US:

Travelers navigate a security checkpoint at Denver International Airport on Tuesday, November 22.

Traffic is seen on a highway in Atlanta on November 23.

People wait to be picked up at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on November 22.

Travelers pass through San Francisco International Airport on Monday, November 21.

In this image, made with a long exposure, vehicles move along Interstate 76 in Philadelphia on Wednesday, November 23. 

To see more photos from Thanksgiving week, click here.

This Thanksgiving is expected to be the third busiest since AAA started tracking travel volume in 2000 and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has provided some tips to travelers during this extremely busy season:

TSA says you’re allowed to bring food in your carry-on.

TSA says be sure to have your ID and know the different options you have for identification.

TSA says remove items from your pockets before the security process begins and place them in your carry-on.

With AAA expecting air traveler volume to be about 99% of the 2019 volume, some of the busiest airports in the US are preparing for the influx of travelers.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport says its expecting 2.5 million passengers and recommends travelers to arrive two to three hours prior to boarding.

O’Hare International Airport in Chicago strongly recommends passengers over the age of 2 to wear masks.

Los Angeles International Airport is reminding travelers they can reserve parking ahead of their flights.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport knows traveling can be hectic — especially with kids — so they’ve assembled and dispersed ambassadors to hand out coloring books.

And Denver international Airport provided a time lapse of the more than 75,000 passengers they’re expecting Thursday.

CNN’s Pete Muntean is in traffic on Interstate 95 near Dumfries, Virginia, as holiday travel picks up on the road.

“This is the linchpin. This is where it typically gets bad. We have been in stop-and-go traffic for the last few miles now. This goes for about another 20 miles. We are in the thick of it,” he said.

In some major cities, “the congestion today will be twice the worst congestion on a normal day,” he added.

Over 54 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home this Thanksgiving, according to AAA. The worst time for road travel today is estimated from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Watch his report here:

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Travelers walk in Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on November 23.

Barry Biffle, the CEO of Frontier Airlines, said holiday airline travel is more spread out this year — with people flying out earlier and returning later than in previous years.

He said this allows more people to travel this year and has been helping airlines keep up with demand, especially in the midst of staffing shortages and canceled flights as the industry recovers from the pandemic.

Flight issues reached their peak this summer when the federal government saw a spike in complaints from angry airline passengers in August.

The Department of Transportation said it received more than 7,000 complaints from flyers, a 6% increase compared with July and a 320% increase compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Biffle said he thinks most of those issues that frustrated travelers this summer have been worked out now, just in time for the holidays.

“The industry did have some challenges, but you know, our perception is that pretty much everyone has gotten the staffing challenges behind them now,” he said.

Heavy traffic moves along Interstate 395in Washington, DC. on November 22.

Drivers will feel a bit less of a pinch at the pump for Thanksgiving this week, but gas prices are still averaging higher than last year at this time, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.

“The national average now just under $3.59 in the latest live data we have,” De Haan told CNN’s Jim Sciutto. “Prices up 17 cents from last year, but more importantly, as we progress into Thanksgiving, prices have plummeted 15 cents a gallon in the last week, with several states seeing decreases in excess of 20 cents a gallon over the last week. So a pretty big decline, but overall, Thanksgiving is still relatively pricey compared to where we’ve been in prior years.” 

De Haan has some tips on saving gas as you make your way to your Thanksgiving destination:

“Shop around,” he added. “…Don’t be in a rush to fill your tank. Prices will continue coming down at a pretty brisk pace. If you’re staying closer to home, don’t feel the need to go pounce on gas prices falling. It’s going to get better yet.” 

Thanks to good weather, airlines have had to cancel very few flights today so far, with just 34 cancelled flights within, into and out of the US as of late Wednesday morning, according to data from flight tracking site FlightAware.

United Airlines — which expects to serve 500,000 passengers a day over the Thanksgiving travel period — had zero flight cancellations network-wide on Tuesday, it told CNN, including mainline and United Express flights, a remarkable figure given the holiday rush.

Sunday, however, could be more challenging, with widespread rain predicted for the Great Lakes and the Northeast.

The Federal Aviation Administration expects Wednesday to be the busiest travel day of the holiday so far by passenger volume, with 45,000 flights scheduled.

In its daily report, the FAA said that “heavy traffic is expected across the country.”

“Delays from low clouds are possible in Dallas-Fort Worth (DAL, DFW), Miami (MIA) and Seattle (SEA). High winds could slow flights in the New York area (EWR, JFK, LGA),” according to the FAA.

The Transportation Security Administration said nearly 2.3 million passengers were screened at its checkpoints on Tuesday, a volume similar to what the agency saw Sunday and Monday.

 A person prepares to pump gas at a gas station in Brooklyn, New York, on October 19, 2022.

For travelers getting ready to make their first holiday trips since before the pandemic: prepare for sticker shock.

Airfares are way up. US gas prices are higher than they’ve ever been at this time of year. Rates for hotel rooms and rental cars have jumped 12% and 46% respectively from where they were in 2019.

The good news is that the prices for airfares, gas and hotel rooms are down from the record highs hit earlier in 2022, but they’re still among the highest on record for this time of year. Only rental car prices are lower than what travelers were paying at the end of last year, although they’re still far above pre-pandemic levels.

Airfare: Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows the number of flights scheduled for November and December is down 15% from the same months in 2019. Many of those missing flights previously were flown by smaller regional carriers serving smaller airports, and some of those airports have since lost service altogether. But even with a greater percentage of flights on larger planes, the number of seats available is down 3.5% compared to that same period in 2019.

A surge in Covid-19 cases at the end of 2021 depressed demand for leisure travel, but this year it’s positively robust, according to the airlines and industry experts.

“Holiday travel has come back as strong as ever, and leisure travel is why that recovered,” said Scott Keyes, founder of travel site Scott’s Cheap Flights. “So many people wanted to travel over Labor Day and July 4, and as we’re going to see pretty soon, over Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

And that combination — strong demand and a tight supply of seats — means high fares.

Gas prices: The good news is that price of a gallon of regular gas nationwide is well below the $5.02 record hit in June. AAA reports that the average as of Sunday stood at $4.67, down 27%. And prices continue to fall — the average price is down 11 cents a gallon in just the last week.

But prices are still 8% higher than this time last year. The price of gas is typically at its seasonal low at the end of the year, frequently just before Christmas.

Hotels: Hotel prices also are more expensive than they’ve ever been this time of year. The Consumer Price Index, the government’s key inflation gauge, shows the cost of lodging away from home hit a record in May, and the October average, the most recent available, is down just 2% from that peak.

Rental cars: Rental car companies slashed their fleets during the early months of the pandemic, selling the cars they had to raise cash. With automakers still not back to full production due to a shortage of parts needed to build cars, including computer chips, it’s taken a while for the rental car companies to replenish their fleets to meet demand. The good news is that October CPI data shows car rental prices are down 3.5% from where they stood in October of last year, and down 15% from the record set in June 2021. Still, rental cars are 46% more expensive than they were in October 2019.

The SpongeBob SquarePants balloon floats during the 95th-annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on on November 25, 2021.

Organizers of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City expect about three million spectators to line the parade’s route Thursday as balloons, floats and marching bands make their way from the Upper West Side to Macy’s flagship store at Herald Square.

That’s about half a million more people than organizers expected last year. In 2020, the parade was a TV-only event due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year, the parade — a tradition that dates back to 1924 — will feature 16 giant character balloons, 28 floats, 12 marching bands, 700 clowns, a host of musical stars and Santa Claus, organizers say.

If you want to get a jump on the big event, you can watch the balloons being inflated Wednesday afternoon, from noon to 6 p.m. ET, on the Upper West Side at 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue.

The parade is set to step off on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, at 8:45 a.m. ET with TV coverage from 9 a.m. to noon.

And all the festivities come with road closures, of course.

“Heavy traffic conditions are expected, and there will be rolling street closures in Manhattan, so mass transit is strongly encouraged,” according to the NYPD.

Find a list of affected routes on Wednesday and Thursday here.

While much of the country will experience a tranquil Thanksgiving week, large portions of the South and southern California could be impacted on Thanksgiving Day and the entire East Coast could be in for some rough weather as travelers return after the holiday.

Getting to your Thanksgiving destination will likely be easier than coming home – at least as far as the weather goes.

In terms of travel, the only real trouble spot Wednesday will be across the Rockies, where snow is expected. 

However, strong winds will develop Wednesday night across southern California and last through Thursday, with more than 13 million people from California to Nevada under wind alerts.

The strong winds could lead to power outages, leaving some in the dark on Thanksgiving Day, and push fire danger into the critical range north of Los Angeles, where fire weather watches are in effect. 

Elsewhere, a storm system will begin to develop on Thanksgiving Day over the Southern Plains and pull in moisture along the Gulf Coast.

While most of Thanksgiving Day will stay dry, rain will begin to fall and intensify through the afternoon for much of Central and East Texas as well as Louisiana, Arkansas and the Lower Mississippi River Valley.

While the timing of the rain might be a bummer, nearly 70% of the South is in drought conditions, so the rain is something to be thankful for.

The Northeast will stay in the 40s and 50s for the most part. New York City should see lows in the mid-30s on Thanksgiving, with highs around 50. Sunny skies and light winds should prevail allowing for the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons to fly high.

After Turkey Day: The area of low pressure bringing Thanksgiving rain to the South will make its way to the East for post-Thanksgiving travelers. The rainfall will expand on Friday, stretching from the Canadian border to the Gulf Coast.

Anywhere from New Orleans to Cleveland, Atlanta to Boston and even areas around Buffalo that are digging out of 80 inches of snow will have the chance of rain on Friday.

This quick shot of rain will make its way off the East Coast by late Friday night, ahead of the main event.

Another area of low pressure will march up the Eastern Seaboard later in the weekend and it could bring some major travel concerns.

This storm “will bring potential for a quick hitting moderate to heavy rainfall Saturday night/Sunday (heavy rain axis dependent on low track and rate of intensification) in addition to gusty winds in its wake late Sunday into Monday,” the weather service office in New York City said.