What are the busiest days to travel for the holidays?
2023 has been a record-setting year for air travel, and there’s no reason to think the end-of-year holidays will be any different.
After logging its busiest summer ever at U.S. airport security checkpoints, the Transportation Security Administration saw more passengers on Nov. 26 — the Sunday after Thanksgiving — than on any day in its 22-year history.
And the crowds are just getting started.
AAA expects 7.5 million Americans will fly over the 10-day Christmas and New Year’s holiday period. That’s a number larger than both last year’s holiday airport crowds and those seen in 2019.
At security checkpoints, agents will be working to keep lines moving. Their goal: wait times of 10 minutes or less in the TSA PreCheck lanes and a half-hour or less in the standard lanes.
“We expect this holiday season to be our busiest ever,” TSA administrator David Pekoske said in a statement last month.
It was a prediction that the Thanksgiving rush confirmed, and one that tracked with the crowds seen all year. Seven of the 10 busiest days ever at TSA checkpoints have come in 2023. The 2.9 million air travelers seen on Nov. 26 beat out the previous record from June 30, set by Fourth of July weekend travelers.
Suffice it to say, if you’re traveling for a December holiday, it’s a good time to make sure that your TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or Clear membership is active. Also, make sure your Known Traveler Number is attached to your flight reservation.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on how airlines perform following 2022’s headaches, most notably the Southwest Airlines December meltdown. That meltdown was an operational disaster the airline says it will avoid this year thanks to a host of changes.
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Fortunately, airlines are off to a good start with this year’s holiday season. Between Nov. 19 and 26, during peak the peak Thanksgiving period, U.S. based carriers canceled a collective 0.2% of flights, according to FlightAware data analyzed by TPG. That was down slightly from a similarly impressive 0.3% cancellation rate during the equivalent period last year. The rate of delays among those carriers hovered at a consistent 17% from last Thanksgiving.
However, travelers have learned all too well the last couple of years that the end-of-year holiday season can bring a plethora of potential roadblocks, including the possibility of bad weather and the lingering threat of air traffic control-related disruptions.
“Mother Nature is always the x-factor,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged at a news conference last month.
Busiest days to travel at Christmas and New Year’s
The TSA anticipates heavy volume throughout the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period. However, it may likely come in the form of sustained crowds, as opposed to any single, record-setting days. (In recent years, the busiest day of the year has typically been the Sunday after Thanksgiving, as it was this year.)
Exactly which days will be the busiest days to fly this month? It’s a little harder to predict the end-of-year holidays, which fall on a different day of the week each year. Also, recent years have held no shortage of abnormalities, from last December’s bad weather and Southwest meltdown to COVID-19 and the omicron variant surge disrupting travel in 2020 and 2021.
Last year, the three busiest days for air travel over the December holidays were as follows, per TSA data:
- Dec. 21, 2022 (a Thursday)
- Dec. 30, 2022 (a Friday)
- Jan. 2, 2023 (a Monday — and a federal holiday following New Year’s Day)
This year, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on a Monday. It seems a safe bet that airports will be busy leading into the weekends prior to the two holidays, particularly Christmas.
Airlines for America, a trade group for the largest U.S. carriers, says the busiest days will be:
- Thursday, Dec. 21
- Friday, Dec. 22
- Tuesday, Dec. 26
- Wednesday, Dec. 27
- Thursday, Dec. 28
- Friday, Dec. 29
On the other hand, if you can find a way to travel on Christmas Day, you may find ultra-light crowds — if Thanksgiving was any indication, at least. Thanksgiving Day was the second least crowded day of 2023 at U.S. airports, according to TSA data. Likewise, Airlines for America projects Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day will be similarly uncrowded.
What about driving?
As usual, even more Americans will drive than fly for the holidays, although the share of air travelers is up from recent years.
More than 103 million U.S. travelers will take year-end holiday road trips during the 10 days around the end-of-year holidays, according to AAA. That’s up nearly 2% from last year.
There’s some good news for drivers, too. The national average for a gallon of regular gas currently sits at $3.15, down slightly from this time last year.
That’s despite airlines battling cost pressures from jet fuel prices in recent months.
Still, if you are driving for Christmas or New Year’s, be sure to pay at the pump with a credit card that offers bonus points or cash back at gas stations. Consider stacking those bonus points with gas rewards programs and other ways to save on gas.
Bottom line
The holiday season is already off to a busy start, and that trend will likely continue this month with Christmas and New Year’s travel. With those airport crowds in mind, it’s a good time to double-check that you booked your flight and all other trip elements with a credit card that includes travel insurance protections.
As you travel, don’t forget to take advantage of those airline fee credits on cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express. Also, don’t forget to use an airline credit card for credits on checked bags or travel. This is where you can really offset that annual fee.
Download the MyTSA app so you can check security checkpoint wait times and read up on your rights as an air traveler in the event something goes wrong — including when you’re owed a refund.
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