AAA: Winter holiday travel meets expectations, new travel norm noticed

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – The Thanksgiving holiday shattered many expectations AAA had for travelers the winter holiday season is shaping up to be very similar.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving saw the most travelers in the Transportation Security Administration’s recorded history. 3,088,836 people took to the skies to travel home from the extended weekend.

AAA expected travel numbers to increase in 2024 as people settle down for the holidays.

Dec. 26 – Dec. 29 have made their way as some of the highest numbers of people checked in through TSA.

Morgan Dean, spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic region, said more people across the nation are traveling, and the airliner industry is seeing big traffic increases.

“All ten of the busiest days in TSA’s 20+ year history, at those checkpoints where they watch those volume number of travelers, all of those days happened here in 2024. That tells us that 2024 has been a very big year for air travel,” Dean said.

Though the increases in air travel have increased exponentially since 2023, Dean said earlier in December that they expected nearly 120 million long-distance holiday travelers.

He also said the times people decide to come and go have shifted because of remote work opportunities.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work was not commonplace. Now, people can “clock-in” or “clock-out” anywhere in the world — if their job allows it — granting the opportunity to expand trips.

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