AccuWeather's Ali Reid reports from the Philadelphia International Airport the morning of Nov. 19, where the rush for holiday travel is about to begin just over a week away from Thanksgiving.
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00:00Well, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, millions of Americans are hitting the roads
00:04and the skies for one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
00:07All right.
00:08Ali Reed is live from the Philadelphia International Airport this morning with more on how to navigate
00:14the holiday rush, especially, as you said, it's a little early, but we think there's
00:19going to be some travel delays next week across parts of the Ohio Valley and maybe right into
00:24Philadelphia, Ali.
00:25Ari?
00:26Ari?
00:27No, Ali.
00:28Got it right.
00:29All right, Bernie, Ari, people are bracing for what's expected to be one of the busiest
00:33Thanksgiving travel seasons on record here.
00:37That starts right here in Philadelphia as well.
00:40Now, many airports across the country are expecting record-breaking numbers leading
00:44into the Thanksgiving holiday.
00:46That increased passenger volume could mean longer checkpoint lines when you're going
00:51through TSA.
00:52Now, the TSA actually advises all guests to arrive at the airport two hours before boarding
00:56times for domestic flights and three hours before international flights to avoid the
01:01risk of missing their planes.
01:03And don't forget about staying up to date on latest weather forecasts through our AccuWeather
01:07app.
01:08Just because the weather is great where you are doesn't mean that'll be the case wherever
01:12you're traveling to.
01:13That could mean delays and cancellations, which means staying informed will be key here,
01:18especially as AAA is predicting 80 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home
01:25during the Thanksgiving holiday period.
01:27Here in Philadelphia, the airport is projecting more than a million people will fly into or
01:32out of PHL.
01:33That will be 12 percent more than last year and very close to what we had in 2019, just
01:40two percent less than 2019.
01:43And the first time that we've projected over a million passengers since 2019.
01:48We were really, really low for a couple of years and starting probably 2022, last year,
01:56and then this year we started to see that turnaround and people really getting back
02:00to air travel.
02:06In terms of busiest travel days for PHL, they're predicting those days to be December 1st,
02:10December 2nd, and November 30th, days that are typically busiest at any airport across
02:15the country as those dates follow the Thanksgiving holiday.
02:19The week leading up to Thanksgiving is typically more spread out in terms of when families
02:22are able to travel depending on schedules versus coming home when it is a more set,
02:27concentrated time period.
02:29Now when you book those flights, of course, you're always hoping for the best case weather
02:33scenario possible, right?
02:35As of right now, it is a little still too early to determine what the weather impacts
02:40could be for Thanksgiving travel depending on where you're going to be throughout the
02:43country.
02:44For me, Ari, I know we've been talking about it.
02:46There are a number of storms that we are following and looking ahead of to next week for those
02:51that might be traveling.
02:52So something to keep in mind, pay attention closely to AccuWeather to stay up to date
02:57on that information.
02:58All right.
02:59Excellent advice.
03:00Ali Reed reporting live for us from Philadelphia International Airport.