The Thanksgiving holiday travel crunch is upon us with experts predicting more than 53 million people will hit the air, roads and waterways to share the love and dinner with others. That’s up 13 percent from last year.
“About 90 percent of those who are going to be traveling will be traveling by car, but we’re seeing people return to the airlines, we’re seeing people return to cruises,” said Triple-A’s Don Redman.
Redman says the travel volume predicted is within five percent of 2019 pre-pandemic levels and marks the highest single-year increase in 16 years. He says air travel is up 80 percent over last year to a volume of just over four million passengers.
Redman advises those traveling by car to make sure they’re aware of what COVID-19 restrictions might be in place along their route and destination.
“You definitely want to be making sure that you understand what restrictions you may be facing, what requirement you may have in front of you before you head out on your highway,” said Redman.
He says the height of highway travel for the holiday weekend should begin during the day Wednesday and into the evening hours, though after 9 p.m. might be your best time to travel when you could encounter less traffic.
Redman says for those traveling by air, there are bargains to be found for the flight itself, but you may face higher expenses elsewhere.
“They’re going to get you somewhere, whether it’s at the hotel stay which we’ve seen almost 27 to 28 percent higher than this time last year and car rental is up about four percent,” saids Redman.
As for gas prices, they are holding mostly steady in Louisiana right now, with the statewide average price of regular at around $3.12 a gallon compared to $1.84last year at this time.
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