Are you traveling over this Thanksgiving holiday?

You won’t be alone. Not by a long shot.

AAA projects 55.4 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over the Thanksgiving holiday travel period. That’s an increase of 2.3% over last year and marks the third-highest Thanksgiving forecast since AAA began tracking holiday travel in 2000.

AAA expects 4.7 million people will fly over the Thanksgiving holiday.

That’s an increase of 6.6% compared to 2022 and the highest number of Thanksgiving air travelers since 2005.

Airport checkpoints will be busier than ever during this Thanksgiving holiday season, which begins Friday, Nov. 17, and concludes Tuesday, Nov. 28. And during that 12-day period, TSA expects to screen 30 million passengers.

Historically, the three busiest travel days around Thanksgiving are the Tuesday and Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving and the Sunday afterward. TSA expects to screen 2.6 million passengers on Tuesday, Nov. 21; 2.7 million passengers on Wednesday, Nov. 22 and 2.9 million passengers on Sunday, Nov. 26, which will likely be the busiest travel day.

TSA PreCheck

TSA says there are now more than 17.6 million passengers enrolled in TSA PreCheck, which represents 3.9 million more TSA PreCheck members than there were this time last year.

So don’t be surprised if the PreCheck lanes seem long at the airports you’ll be flying through this holiday season.

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