US braces for one of the busiest Thanksgiving travel seasons in years as 81.8M Americans hit the roads, skies

The U.S. is bracing for 1 of the busiest Thanksgiving question seasons successful years, with millions of Americans hitting the roads and soaring done the skies to spot loved ones.

AAA predicts that retired of the 81.8 cardinal Americans traveling astatine slightest 50 miles distant for the holiday, 73 cardinal volition beryllium going by car. The car nine warns that this fig could turn if immoderate take to thrust alternatively of alert owed to formation cancellations.

AAA noted that its car rental partner, Hertz, said that Wednesday would beryllium the busiest time for pickup, with the apical 5 markets with the highest request being Orlando, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Newark. Additionally, AAA said its booking information shows home car rentals are 15% cheaper compared to past Thanksgiving.

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An aerial presumption of vehicles traveling on Interstate 35 connected Nov. 24, 2025, successful Austin, Texas.  (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

While it whitethorn beryllium busier connected the roads, it volition besides beryllium cheaper to thrust location for vacation meals this year. 

GasBuddy predicted a nationalist mean of $3.02 per gallon implicit the holiday, matching past year’s price. Both 2024 and 2025 present stock the favoritism of marking the lowest Thanksgiving state prices since the pandemic, erstwhile the nationalist mean deed $3.39 a gallon successful 2021 and $3.56 successful 2022.

Ahead of the vacation celebrations, AAA and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) are reminding travelers that driving portion impaired makes the roads unsafe for everyone. Both AAA and MADD are urging drivers to person a program earlier imbibing by utilizing a rideshare app, taking nationalist transit oregon designating a sober driver.

Travelers hold astatine a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint astatine Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) successful Newark, N.J., connected Monday, Nov. 24, 2025.  ( Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Airports are besides expected to beryllium engaged implicit the week. The Federal Aviation (FAA) Administration said implicit 360,000 flights were scheduled during the Thanksgiving question period. However, it expects to person "solid staffing" to negociate the other travelers.

The FAA predicted this Thanksgiving question play to beryllium the busiest successful 15 years, noting that Nov. 25 was the highest question time with much than 52,000 flights. 

Despite the rush, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford was optimistic that the FAA would beryllium prepared to tackle the challenge.

"Thanks to the dedication of our aerial postulation controllers and each FAA employee, we are acceptable for the vacation unreserved and instrumentality pridefulness successful helping travelers scope their friends and families during this important clip of year," Bedford said successful a statement. "I americium profoundly grateful to our full FAA team. Even done a play of record-high traffic, their unwavering committedness keeps the strategy moving safely."

Passengers transportation their luggage arsenic they hold to committee flights for the Thanksgiving holidays, astatine Chicago O'Hare International Airport successful Chicago, Ill., Nov. 26, 2025.  (Jim Vondruska/Reuters)

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To assistance marque immoderate of the chaos much pleasant, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is urging much civility successful question with the Department of Transportation's caller "Golden Age of Travel" campaign. He's encouraging Americans to beryllium kinder and considerate of 1 another, and to formal respectfully erstwhile flying.

"There’s nary question we’ve mislaid show of what makes question amusive — the excitement, the relaxation, the cordial conversations," the Department of Transportation's connection connected the run reads. "Americans already consciousness divided and stressed. We tin each bash our portion to bring backmost civility, manners, and communal sense."

An FAA illustration showing however galore flights person been scheduled for each time of the Thanksgiving question play indicates that Thursday volition person the slightest fig of flights with conscionable implicit 25,600 scheduled compared to Tuesday's 52,185 flights. Meanwhile, the FAA believes aerial question volition prime up again, with Sunday having 51,268 flights scheduled, astir arsenic galore arsenic Nov. 25.

Fox News Digital's Amanda Macias contributed to this report.