Travel rush: Travelers flood roads, airport and train station on way to Thanksgiving destinations

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — People are flooding the roads, airport and train station Wednesday as they head to their Thanksgiving destinations.

AAA predicts nearly 80 million Americans will be traveling this year.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” one traveler told Action News.

RELATED: Thanksgiving travel and traffic: Best and worst times to drive and fly

“I can’t believe this. I knew it was going to be long but I didn’t know it would be this long,” said James Williams from Harrisburg.

Enormous lines for security snaked through Philadelphia International Airport in the throes of the Thanksgiving travel rush.

“I thought the girl was joking when she said all the way to the back,” said Wendy Mungai, of West Philadelphia. “I thought that back — she meant all the way around and around and around.”

“I texted my parents and said ‘Oh my God, I’m going to miss my flight,’ and then I met this kind lady and she said it’s going to move quickly and we moved a lot faster than I hoped for,” said fellow traveler Chris Jones.

RELATED: Thanksgiving forecast: Where the snow, rain is headed this holiday week

About 94,000 people are expected to travel through PHL, prompting TSA to boost staffing.

“We offered our officers every opportunity to come in and work extra hours,” said Gerardo Spero, with TSA. “We have non-screeners come out, like myself.”

“This has been a busy travel year for us. We’ve been approaching our pre-pandemic numbers, so it’s been great,” said Heather Redfern, with PHL. “We’ve had an easing in to that very busy travel period.”

But according to AAA, most will travel by car.

RELATED: Crashes on I-95 cause delays for commuters and holiday travelers in Philadelphia & Delaware

“We will feel a lot of that [Wednesday] between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. as commuters mix with holiday travelers, mixed with last minute grocery store shoppers,” said Jana Tidwell, with AAA.

Amtrak also prepared for the travel surge by lengthening trains and adding additional staff, with ridership ramping up to pre-COVID levels.

“Here in Philadelphia, we’ve really seen a surge between 2022-2023,” said Beth Toll, with Amtrak. “We’re up 23%.”

Despite the business, travelers felt the holiday cheer with airport staffers, who were putting smiles on people’s faces.