Thanksgiving travel may be less stressful this year

Thanksgiving travel is seeing a different trend this year. Airlines are expecting less passenger traffic during what is considered peak Thanksgiving travel time every year. Reason: hybrid work.

Usually, Tuesday, Wednesday, and the Sunday after the holiday are the mad rush days every year. But this year, travel experts have observed people spreading their travel throughout the week.

More than 2.6 million travelers passed through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Monday—roughly 1 million more than the 2019 Monday before Thanksgiving.

Change in everyone's work environment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has made Thanksgiving travel flexible. Remote work and hybrid work styles have helped people travel at their leisure, avoiding travel stress and anxiety due to flight delays and cancellations.

As for the airlines, they couldn’t be happier, “We’re seeing demand is more spread out…I see it all over the place, and that bodes well,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said.

Roughly 55 million people will travel for the Thanksgiving holidays via airlines, rails, and buses this year, and 4.5 million out of them are expected to fly between today and Sunday.