Thanksgiving travel exceeds expectations from travel forecasts

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – Travel agencies were expecting Thanksgiving travel in 2024 to exceed previously set records, and preliminary data confirms those expectations.

According to TSA check-in data recorded at airports across the country, Sunday was the busiest travel day ever recorded for air travel. 3,087,393 people were checked in at airports across the U.S., which is 600,000 more people than in 2023.

In Virginia, more drivers made their way across the Commonwealth, but fewer accidents were reported than in years past. According to the Virginia State Police:

• Seven people died on Virginia roadways in 2024, compared to 11 in 2023.
• 404 people were cited for seatbelt violations, and 116 were written for child restraint violations.
• 77 people were arrested for driving under the influence.
• 3,638 drivers were cited for speeding, and over 1,700 drivers were cited for reckless driving.
• Troopers responded to 1,182 crashes, which is 200 less than 2023.

VSP said it is happy about the decrease but will continue to work with Virginians to teach road safety.

Morgan Dean, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson, said traffic buildups are normal on holiday weekends, but some key chokepoints were affected by traffic crashes in Virginia.

“It did seem like a lot of that traffic started to build on the roadways,” Dean said. “There was a lot more crashes later in the afternoon [and] some accidents causing traffic on I-81. There was a big crash at the 81 interchanges that really caused a lot of big backups for people trying to get back to the Shenandoah Valley. Those are those kinds of things we see on that Sunday after Thanksgiving.”

Dean said Thanksgiving travel can be a precursor for later holiday travel, but it can be hard to predict trends for those denser travel periods because it covers two weeks instead of one weekend.

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