Many Americans are traveling this holiday week to see loved ones either by plane or by car, or they are having visitors come to them. Either way, traveling is going to be involved in many lives.
Over the holiday period, 115.2 million Americans are expected to travel, according to USA Today.
The Transportation Security Administration expected the holiday travel period to go from Thursday through Tuesday, Jan. 2, Reuters reported.
“I don’t want to jinx us, but so far 2023 has seen the lowest cancellation rate in the last five years,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
The hope is that winter weather won’t interfere, but Buttigieg said it “will certainly be a challenge in the next few weeks,” according to the AP.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it is working to create more air-traffic routes to keep planes moving, especially on the East Coast, the AP reported.
“As we approach one of the busiest travel times of the year, expect to see more crowded airports in the coming weeks. You might not be a pilot or an air traffic controller, but you can take steps to make your trip as smooth as possible. Knowing what to expect during busier than usual travel times can save time and stress,” the FAA said.
The agency added that holiday traffic for Christmas will peak on Thursday, with 48,959 flights. Friday will be another high travel day, with 43,953 flights. Travel will be heavy again on Tuesday when around 41,028 flights are scheduled.
The FAA recommends checking your flight before heading to the airport, just to be safe. You can check your flight on the FAA’s website and find additional travel tips.
Earlier this week, Southwest Airlines agreed to pay $140 million to end a federal investigation into what happened to the airline during the busy 2022 holiday travel season. The government said the penalty was 30 times the amount it had ever issued a company for going against airline consumer protections, The Washington Post reported.
The Transportation Department earlier fined American Airlines $4.1 million for stranding people on airport tarmacs for hours, the newspaper reported.
