The busiest travel day of the year
The Sunday after Thanksgiving is considered the busiest travel day of the year as people are returning home from their Thanksgiving trips. Roughly 48.7 million people are traveling this weekend alone.
TripAdvisor, the travel planning and booking site, conducted its annual Thanksgiving travel survey of more than 5,000 respondents. According to the results, Thanksgiving travel was up by 7% this year and 22% will be traveling home Sunday from their holiday getaway.
However, airports tend to be more crowded on the Wednesday and Sunday of this holiday weekend. The Idaho Falls Regional Airport parking lot was full Sunday morning.
Brittany Lefevre and her friend Tara Snyder traveled from Las Vegas to Idaho Falls to see friends and family.
“I’ve noticed a lot of people traveling. It was so packed it took us forever to get through TSA in Vegas. But it’s expected this time around,” Synder said.
Lefevre and Snyder are making their way to Rexburg and were waiting for the Salt Lake Express. “It’s warmer in Vegas. I usually travel two to three times of year here.”
“There’s a lot of people traveling but this airport isn’t too busy,” Lefevre said.
According to AAA 90 percent of people traveled by car, while the other 10 percent traveled by air, train or bus. Despite what many people believe, Thanksgiving Day is actually a heavier travel day than the Wednesday that precedes it; traveling is also evenly spread out during the six-day holiday span, from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through the Sunday that follows the holiday.
