Record number of travelers expected to fly, take trains this Thanksgiving
With Thanksgiving two weeks away, the holiday travel rush is starting to gear up.
Despite high gasoline and jet fuel prices amid the ongoing war with Iran, millions of Americans still plan to take to the skies, road and rails this Thanksgiving.
According to travel company Hopper, about 2.2% more flights are scheduled this Thanksgiving than this period last year, even though airfare prices are the highest they've been for Thanksgiving in at least 10 years, with domestic roundtrip fares up 39% from 2025 and international fares up as much as 30%.
Airlines for America, a trade association and lobbying group representing major North American airlines, projects nearly 29 million people will travel over Thanksgiving break this year.
Airlines are expecting the Sunday after Thanksgiving to be the busiest day to travel, with millions of travelers expected to fly on Nov. 29, according to Hopper data. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport will be the busiest airports, with more than 2 million seats scheduled at each airport between Nov. 21 and Dec. 1.
American Airlines said in a press release Monday that it is expecting an especially busy travel season this Thanksgiving: More than 8 million customers are expected to fly on 85,000 American flights between Nov. 19 and Dec. 1, with an average of one flight taking off every 13 seconds. According to the airline, 7,021 flights are scheduled for Nov. 29 alone, marking the carrier's "largest operating day since the pandemic."
United Airlines said it is also anticipating more than 500,000 customers a day, flying on more than 4,800 daily flights during the same Nov. 19 through Dec. 1 period. Ahead of Thanksgiving, United expects its busiest day to be Friday, Nov. 20, with an expectation of more than 540,000 flying customers, which will then increase post-holiday to approximately 600,000 customers flying on Sunday, Nov. 29, the carrier told ABC News.
On the rails, Amtrak is also expecting a record number of passengers and is advising customers to book tickets early. The national rail service said it is adding more capacity along its popular Northeast Corridor route from Nov. 20-30 and will add two more roundtrip trains on the Washington, D.C., to New York City route between Nov. 24-25 and Nov. 28-29.
