Despite inflation and memories of past holiday travel meltdowns, Americans are traveling in record numbers this Thanksgiving season.
AAA forecasts that 55.4 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home between yesterday and Sunday night.
The Transportation Security Administration screened about 2.6 million passengers on Tuesday and 2.7 million passengers yesterday with Sunday predicted to see 2.9-million screenings – which would narrowly top the record set on June 30.
Airlines and the FAA say they are prepared for the onslaught, but warn that airport security lines could be long. Delta is telling passengers to arrive at the airport at least two or three hours before their flight.
The weather has been cooperating so far, but the system that could give us 3-5” over the next 2 days could drop up to a foot of snow in Wyoming.
FlightAware, a tracking service, says U-S airports reported 59 flight cancellations and 2,750 delays yesterday. That may seem like a lot, but FlightAware says anything less than 300 cancellations and 4,000 delays per day is considered very good.
The travel number reflects airfares that are lower than they were last year and gasoline prices that are down too. AAA is projecting over 50-million Americans are doing their holiday traveling by car.
The Nebraska Dept of Transportation – Highway Safety Office is once again providing grants to law enforcement agencies across the state to cover the overtime costs of putting more officers on the road for the week.
Grants were given to the State Patrol and 40 local agencies, but the Chadron and Scottsbluff Police Departments are the only recipients in the Panhandle.
The Highway Safety Office says Nebraska had one of the lowest seat belt usage rates in the country last year at 76%, the lowest in the last 10 years and well under the national rate of 92%.