Holiday crowds at airports and highways are expected to be even larger than last year

More Americans are expected to fly or travel removed from home this Christmas than last year, limiting a busy year for travel.

The AAA Auto Club forecast Monday that 115.2 million people will drive at least 50 miles from home within the 10 days from Dec. 23 to New Year’s Day. This is 2.2% more than AAA expected within the comparable period last year.

“The urge to escape is stronger than we have seen in a very long time,” said AAA spokeswoman Aixa Diaz. “People are willing to adjust their budgets in other areas of their lives, but they want to continue to travel.”

AAA predicts the vacation season will still be 3% shorter than the record level of travel seen in 2019, the last Christmas before Covid-19 struck within the United States.

Air travel within the U.S. has already increased, surpassing 2019 levels.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, the variety of travelers passing through U.S. airport checkpoints increased 12.4% from last year and 1.4% more than in 2019. Post-Thanksgiving travel in 2019 peaked at 2.9 million – which is a one-day record for TSA – and the screening took place on Sunday, November 26.

Airlines expect the vacation season to be filled with hits.

Airlines for America says 39 million passengers – a median of about 2.8 million per day – will board flights to the US between December 20 and January 2. A trade group of enormous U.S. carriers expects about 3 million passengers on peak days – the Thursday and Friday before the flight. Christmas and the 4 days after the vacation.

Airlines count passengers more than once in the event that they use connecting moderately than connecting flights, so their numbers are higher than those reported by the TSA.

Travel is in high demand, even as many Americans say they are anxious concerning the economy. In an AP-NORC poll last week, seven in 10 respondents rated the economy as poor. But at least inflation has cooled down a bit.

Featured Stories

Airline passengers can get some relief from last year’s high prices. According to the newest government data, average ticket prices in October were 13% lower than a year earlier.

AAA predicts 7.5 million passengers will arrive within the United States at the tip of December, however the club expects the number to be much higher – almost 104 million – over the vacations.

Drivers can pay barely less for refueling. According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of gas was $3.19 at the tip of last week, compared with $3.33 a year earlier. Gasoline costs less than $3 a gallon in the midst of the country.

Travel for Christmas and New Year’s Day is spread over several weeks, so the busiest days rarely coincide with the Thanksgiving peak — the TSA counted a record 2.9 million airline passengers on the Sunday after the November holiday.

Transport data provider INRIX has predicted that motorways will be busiest on Saturday, December 23 and Thursday, December 28.

AAA’s Diaz notes that many individuals proceed to work through the holidays. Vacationers going to visit family will mix with commuters on the roads, “so rush hours could still be bad,” she added. “We always say, leave as early as possible if you’re heading out or leaving at night.”