ROANOKE, Va. – Thanksgiving travel is predicted to be busy on the roads and record-setting in the skies.
Taking a flight or driving – no matter what – it will be a busy and congested holiday week.
“No matter where you are going to go there’s probably going to be a lot of people hopefully you’ve made some good decisions on booking tickets if you are flying taking those early morning flights gives you the best chance to rebook or to get on to a later flight,” Morgan Dean, AAA Mid-Atlantic Spokesperson said.
AAA predicts that more than 55 million Americans will travel over the Thanksgiving weekend, which is up more than 2.3% from last year. ROA is no exception.
We checked in with the Executive Director of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport Mike Stewart. He said to expect the crowds.
“Right now, what we are expecting is between 1200 and 1500 a day flying out of Roanoke and the lows will be extremely busy so early in the morning and midafternoon will be busy times at the airport,” Mike Stewart, Executive Director of the Roanoke Blacksburg Regional Airport said.
Stewert said early preparation is key to keeping holiday travel smooth.
“You want to make sure you start packing your bags early, just a little plug. We’ve had 5 people this year who have come out here with firearms in their bag, forgot they were there, and all those guns are now scrap metal and TSA leveled some pretty hefty fines on those people. Clean that bag out, make sure it’s all good and you get it packed ahead of time,” Stewart said.
While 49 million holiday travelers are driving, more than 4.7 million will be flying - that’s the highest number of air travelers since 2005.