The ‘busiest Thanksgiving ever’ means travel concerns

NEW YORK (PIX11) — 80 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or farther this holiday week, which is a record number, according to AAA and the Transportation Security Administration.

In fact, "this will be the busiest Thanksgiving ever, in terms of air travel,” according to TSA Administrator David Pekoske.

It's similarly busy across a variety of modes of travel, where PIX11 News found people readying themselves for a worst-case scenario, but largely pleased that it hasn't been a nightmare -- at least so far. 

Ian Feldman was about to board an NJTransit train down to the Jersey Shore with his daughter in order to visit relatives as part of their Thanksgiving week vacation. He said that there was a theme to their travels. 

"We figured it was going to be really busy, so we left early," Feldman said. They'd planned ahead for high volumes of fellow travelers. 

Stephanie Shifflett was in the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, waiting to board an Amtrak train to Virginia. She and her group of traveling companions said that they were staying calm, despite some travel setbacks they described as minor. 

Their train's departure time was moved about a quarter-hour later than originally scheduled, but Shifflett didn't seem to mind. 

"If on the busiest travel day, we're delayed by 14 minutes," she said, "we're okay. That's what we've got right now." 

The delay was how their trip began, but the group was confident that their journey across six states and the District of Columbia wouldn't be delayed any further. 

"Fingers crossed," Shifflett said. 

Meanwhile, Aneesh Anand, another rail passenger, mentioned that his chosen mode of transportation, while not perfect, was at least as good as others. 

"I was talking to some friends," he said, "and they were like at the airport, and it's like 45 minutes to get through security." 

Their description contradicts what David Pekoske, the head of the TSA said, about the airport security experience. He told the Associated Press that his agency had enough screeners this holiday week to get passengers through most airport security checkpoints nationwide within 30 minutes. 

At the New York region's airports on Tuesday, most flights were on time. However, there were concerns that a variety of factors could affect travel times, including an air traffic controller shortage at Newark, and snow and rainstorms expected to affect airports from the Great Lakes region to ours later this week.

One more issue involves the Thanksgiving holiday occurring so late in the month this year. The late date puts the autumn holiday closer to the winter holiday season, which tends to promote people spreading out their outbound travel across the week. They then tend to all return during the coming weekend, making airports, train stations, and bus stations that much more crowded. 

Ian Feldman, the Jersey Shore-bound NJTransit passenger, offered advice regarding the situation. 

"Do not travel on Sunday and Monday," he said. “We're headed out on Saturday to avoid the Thanksgiving rush.”