Thanksgiving travel can feel like a perfect storm: everyone moves at the same time, airports hit capacity, and one patch of bad weather can scramble flight schedules nationwide. We dig into what the 2026 forecasts say about holiday crowds, including AAA’s projection of roughly 6 million domestic flyers and more than 81 million total travelers going 50 miles or more. If you’re trying to avoid packed terminals, brutal TSA lines, and the dreaded Sunday return rush, we lay out the timing patterns that usually create the biggest bottlenecks and the days that can be a little calmer if your schedule allows it.
TRANSCRIPT
Hi and welcome to The Traveling Fool, the show where we talk about travel destinations, the history and culture around those destinations, along with travel tips and news. I’m your host, Bob Bales, and today we’re talking about one of my favorite holiday and one of the worst days in the world to travel, and that’s Thanksgiving holiday. So stay tuned and we’ll be right back.
I love Thanksgiving, Probably because when I was a kid because I you got to eat everything in the world. They put out a spread like you wouldn’t believe. And my favorite part was actually the leftovers that night and the next day. That and the desserts, I did love that desserts. But anyway, Thanksgiving is also I think it’s probably harder to travel Thanksgiving than it is Christmas. Might be wrong. I have to do a little research on that, but I’m pretty sure Thanksgiving is probably the worst travel days. That little block of time frame there is the worst travel time that you can do. Whether you’re driving, flying, doesn’t matter. It’s it’s you need to plan ahead. But today, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna talk about the busiest airports for Thanksgiving during 2026 this year. And also maybe a few alternates, something for you to think about.
AAA Numbers And Peak Travel Days
And we’re also gonna hit on some other options. But let’s just be well, I’m looking here. According to AAA, you know, the AAA insurance and road hazard company, and they do all kinds of statistics, and every year they put out their travel thing for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays. But according to AAA, approximately six million Americans are expected to take domestic flights on or before the Thanksgiving holidays. It’s up about 2% from previous years. That’s not how many people are traveling. That’s how many people are traveling by flying domestically, one state to another. Six million. And the total holiday travelers that they project is 81.8 million to around 82 million total travelers. These are people that are traveling at least 50 miles from home across all modes of travel. Now, if you’re listening from another part of the world other than the United States, 50 miles, yeah, that’s a long ways. But in the United States, 50 miles is nothing. I live in the greater Houston area. 50 miles gets me downtown and almost back to my house. So, I mean, 50 miles is nothing. But this is takes into account everybody traveling on aircraft and traveling at least 50 miles from home across all modes of transportation, whether it’s vehicles, aircraft, trains, you name it. They also say some of the busiest days, the heaviest air travel and security screening volume days are expected to cluster on the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, as well as the Sunday immediately following Thanksgiving. Because that’s when most people travel. And let’s face it, if you’re gonna travel those days, just expect it to be a mess. Now the best and least crowded days to fly are on Monday, November the 23rd, and Thanksgiving Day, which i it may be least crowded, but it’s definitely not the best, and I’ll tell you why in a minute. And for departures, November the 26 well, it says November 26th for departures. Yeah, I guess that’s going to your destination. And on Wednesday, December 2nd, or Tuesday, December the first for returns, I get you past that dreaded Sunday rush travel.
Why Thanksgiving Day Flights Go Sideways
Now I’m gonna tell you why flying on Thanksgiving Day is not a good idea. If you don’t care what time you arrive or even if you arrive on Thanksgiving, then yeah, Thanksgiving Day is a great day to travel. But if you remember years in the past, you’ll see on the news people stranded at airports because of one thing or another. What happens around Thanksgiving and Christmas every year? Bad weather. Some part of the country out of nowhere is gonna have a massive snowstorm or torrential floods or something’s gonna go on. It happens almost every year, and you wind up with people stuck at airports. Now add into the fact that you’ve got more people than usual traveling through those airports. It’s just a mess. I hate to travel. Well, no, let me let me correct that. I love to travel. I hate to fly. Used to, I I love flying. It was great. It was a great experience. You know, you get on board, the stewardesses were nice. Yeah, they called them stewardesses back then. They weren’t flight attendants. And they served you a decent meal, and it was a nice experience. Well now, the flight attendants, and they have a hard job to do. But you could tell they would rather probably be somewhere else. And the people that are your fellow passengers, a good percentage uh a good percentage of them are normal people. But there is a percentage of them that are just there’s something wrong with these folks. They show up wearing pajamas and flip-flops. They or they haven’t had a bath and you and they stink from three rows away. Or they’ve got 13 carry-on bags they’re trying to shove in the overhead compartment. They’re loud, they’re obnoxious, drunk, you name it, almost every flight, you’re gonna have some moron. And on a few of these flights, you’re gonna have the YouTube morons. Not the ones that are YouTube creators. I’m talking about the ones that wind up on YouTube and TikTok and everything else for having meltdowns and screaming and drunk and everything else. They’re all over the place. It’s like a zoo out there. So I would rather trust me, I would rather drive more than anything else. I don’t have to put up with the long lines, I don’t have to put up with the TSA lines, I don’t have to put up with bad weather, flight cancellations, overbook flights, everything else that’s gonna occur, and it’s gonna occur even more during the holiday season. I just get in my car, light my cigar, hit the road, and I get there. To me, it’s well worth driving versus flying.
Busiest Airports And Better Backups
But we’re talking about flying today. So according to Hopper, now Hopper is one of those online booking sites. Big site, it’s actually a really good site. I’ve used it a couple times, the online booking site Hopper. These are the U.S. airports projected to be the busiest Thanksgiving 2026. And some of them are not going to be any surprise, and there’s a couple that aren’t on here that I thought probably should be. But let’s start. Hartsfield, Jackson, Atlanta International Airport. Projected to be definitely one of the busiest during Thanksgiving. You can expect long lines, long TSA lines, everything else. And just like I said, go back last year, year before, the year before that. One of those years you’re gonna get people stranded, stranded at Jackson or Hartsfield, Jackson, Atlanta Airport. Why? Because of bad weather. Maybe not in Atlanta, but somewhere else that’s affecting flights everywhere. So I’m gonna give you an alternate. Now, if you’ve already booked your flight, this isn’t gonna do you any good, but think about it for next time. Something you can do, and you it it takes a little work. If you’re gonna fly somewhere and you’re flying from, I don’t know, Denver to Atlanta, instead of booking your flight to Atlanta International, look at Columbus Airport in Columbus, Georgia. It’s not that far away, and you might save you some money, and it’ll definitely save you a lot of heartache. Because Columbus, Georgia is a whole lot less busy than Atlanta, and it’s right in the same area. So start looking for alternative airports versus the big major ones. Chicago O’Hare. Also gonna be one of the busiest. Now, somewhere else you can fly into besides Chicago O’Hare? Chicago Midway. It’s still in Chicago, it’s just a smaller airport with a whole lot less headaches. DFW, Dallas Fort Worth International. Oh, it’s I got stuck in a two-hour security line there one year, just because they were massively overwhelmed. Well, you can also fly into Dallas Love Field. Still gets you to Dallas. You’re still flying in and out of Dallas. You’re just not having to fly through DFW. Now these work a lot for domestic flights. If you’re flying, you know, maybe booking an international flight to the states, you’re gonna have to fly into one of these, but you’re not gonna use these regional airports like this. Another major airport expected to be one of the busiest this year, Chicago, or not Chicago, we already talked about them. Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Now here’s an alternate. Instead of going to Charlotte, flying to Concord Paget Regional Airport in Concord, North Carolina, or Greenville Spartanburg International Airport in Greyer, South Carolina. They’re both really close to there. So if you’ve got loved ones and you’re flying to Charlotte and you’re gonna spend Thanksgiving with them, well, flying to Greenville instead and rent your car and take a 45-minute drive to Charlotte. Denver International, also one of the busiest this year. Instead of flying into Denver, you might want to check out Colorado Springs Internet or Colorado Springs Airport. Phoenix Sky Harbor is also expected to be one of the busiest. Well, an alternate to Phoenix Sky Harbor is the Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport, or Tucson, which is a two-hour drive. Now, like I said, if you’re not listening from the USA, you’re gonna say, two hours? Why would I do that? My God. Well, here in the States, two hours really is not that bad of a drive. And give you a perspective. You look at a map of Texas and you see I live on the west side of the Houston Greater Houston area, and San Antonio is west of me. You look on a map and you go, well, that’s not that far. Well, it’s about 190 miles. So it’s it’s a good two and a half, three hour drive. Depending on how fast you’re driving on Interstate 10. LAX, always one of the busiest. Instead of flying into LAX, Los Angeles International, you might want to try Hollywood Burbank, Long Beach, or John Wayne Airports. Three airports, all right there, get you in and out a whole lot quicker than having to stand in the security line and fight the crowds at LAX. And the reason you want to use these alternates is just for that reason. TSA lines are gonna be a lot shorter. The crowds are gonna be a lot less. It’s gonna be a lot less hassle. Seattle, Tacoma, CTAC. Instead of flying in and out of CTAC, try Seattle Payne Field International. It’s right there in Seattle and you don’t have to mess with CTAC. Harry Reid International out of Las Vegas. Yeah, they made the list. A lot of people go to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving. And here, it’s gonna hurt you a little bit. To get an alternate airport flying into Las Vegas, unless you’re flying on a private flight when they have private airlines or charter flights and for private aircraft and stuff like this that land in other fields there. Unless you’re doing that and you’re flying commercial, look for something at St. George Regional, which is 108 miles away, or Kingman Airport in Kingman, Arizona, which is 130 miles away. Now, if it’s worth it to you to save the time and hassle of going through Harry Reid International, you can fly to one of these others, rent you a car, take a leisurely little drive to Las Vegas. It’ll be well worth it in the long run.
New York Surprises And Missing Cities
And the last one on the list for the busiest airports of Thanksgiving 2026 is LaGuardia. That one surprised me. LaGuardia is listed as being one of the busiest, but not JFK, which I don’t understand that. I would think JFK, but maybe because JFK is a big international airport, more international flights are coming in there versus domestic. Because they are reliant strictly on domestic air travel. So I guess you could look at JFK as an alternate or go to Newark Liberty Airport in Newark, New Jersey, which is not that far away from New York, and I mean it’s just right across the right across the the water there and take a bridge and you’re over in New Jersey. Uh definitely shorter than driving from Houston to San Antonio. So those are some alternates you can take. But that one did surprise me. I would think it would be JFK instead of LaGuardia. A couple that weren’t on the list that surprised the heck out of me was Houston. Houston’s always busy. But I guess it’s not it didn’t make the cut on one of the busiest, but it’s still a zoo to get through. And Houston has an alternative. Houston actually has two airports. The George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport. Big fancy name for the international flights. They all come in and out of there. Well, most of them. The other one is Hobby, which is on the south side of town. George Bush Airport is on the north side of town. Hobby’s on the south side of town. Hobby is a smaller airport. It was the only airport until they built the Bush International Airport. And they have flights going into Hobby, so you can check out those. Or you could fly to one of the neighboring towns that have uh regional airline traffic. But yeah, Hobby’s a great alternative for Houston. And there were a couple others that surprised me that I would think might make the list like Miami. It didn’t make the list. I don’t know why, but I guess it just these others are just projected to be a whole lot busier. But it doesn’t matter. Anytime you’re looking to travel, one, if you go to an alternate airport, it might save you some money. Two, it’s almost assuredly gonna save you hassles getting through security in the crowds. The smaller the airport is usually a whole lot better.
Small Airports And A No-Stress Story
I remember when I flew out of, I think it was up in Montana, great Great Falls, Montana. Got to the airport, I don’t know, hour and a half before the flight, and the security lines were closed. I’m like, what’s going on here? They’re like, well, they don’t open them until like 45 minutes before the flight. And some guy wandered over open security line. A few of us went through, and there were four gates in there, and you walked in and nothing was open. There was a couple of little food court things, but they weren’t open. And there was nobody there at any of the gates. I was the only passenger sitting there for about 20 minutes until about 15 other people showed up. And then the gate attendant showed up, opened the thing, and we left. So it was like no crowds, no hassle, no nothing. Now, not all these airports are gonna be like that, but if you do go to a a smaller airport that is close by, you will definitely have a whole lot less hassles. And that well, that’s one of the reasons I hate flying. I just I just don’t like the hassle of it. It’s a pain.
Drive If You Can And Book Now
I would much rather just get in the car and drive. To me, it’s a whole lot nicer, it’s a whole lot easier. If you want to get there in a decent amount of time, stay on the interstate. If you want to enjoy yourself, I get off the interstate and go to the back roads. It might add an hour, well, in my case, it might add three or four hours to the trip because I like to stop along the way. I discover stuff when I’m driving, I’m like, ooh, look at that, that’s kind of cool. Let me stop. And I find little out-of-the-way places to eat lunch or some off-the-wall thing that I just never knew was there and would have never known if I hadn’t been driving down the road instead of flying over it at 30,000 feet. So for me, I personally prefer driving. It’s just a lot more enjoyable. Plus, when I get there, I’ve got my car to drive around in. I’m not stuck without a vehicle. But I understand for most people it’s, hey, I’ve got four or five days, I need to catch a flight, need to get back, go to school, go to work, whatever. Start looking at some of these alternate airports. You might be surprised you could save you some money. You’re definitely going to save some time and hassles along the way. Now, next week we’re gonna talk more about a destination and everything they have there. But for this week, I want to get this out there. You still, if you haven’t booked a flight, you better start booking it now because there’s only about three or four weeks to go.
Closing Thanks And Subscribe Request
Well, that’s it for this week. But before I go, please hit that like or subscribe button and send a link to the podcast to someone you think might enjoy it. And until next time, safe travels.
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