AAA projects record crowds during busiest travel day of the year at airports

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- It's traditionally the busiest travel day of the year at the airports and experts are projecting crowds are nearing pre-pandemic flight records.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is typically when the bulk of travelers make the trek home, leading to potentially long lines at ticketing and security.

Travelers at Philadelphia International Airport said spending the holiday with family was worth the the travel rush.

"It's important for me to get home for Thanksgiving to see family, so I stuck it out," said Stevie Collin from Detroit. She got to the airport at 4 a.m. to find a long line at TSA.

James McCleary said he had his longest wait since the start of the pandemic.

"About 30 to 45 minutes," he said. "It moved fast though."

AAA projected about 4.5 million Americans were flying to their Thanksgiving destination this year, an 8% increase compared to 2021.

"I think after the past few years, everyone is back to normal getting pretty good at holiday travel so it was pretty easy," said Townsend Godfrey from Ocean City, New Jersey.

Despite the crowds, several travelers told Action News their airport experience was smooth.

"I mean I've been hearing about a lot of delayed flights and stuff but I actually had a pretty good experience," said Motolani Adewale from Pine Hill, New Jersey.

Still, it's been a long few days for folks who flew to their holiday destinations.

"4 in the morning on Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving. So I beat all the holiday rush. It was great," said Matthew Noone from Massachusetts who goes to Villanova University.

He says he has big plans for when he finally gets back to the school.

"Sleep," he said.

It has been a smooth day at PHL according to Flight Aware, which as of 11 a.m. reported there had been no cancellations at the airport and about 34 total delays.