The Thanksgiving travel rush is here, and millions of Americans are on the move, hitting the roads and packing airports as they head to holiday destinations.
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00:00AAA says nearly 80 million people nationwide are expected to travel home for Thanksgiving dinner this year.
00:07Of those, 18 million people are expected to pass through airport security checkpoints this week.
00:12That is a 6% increase over last year.
00:16This is United's busiest ever Thanksgiving and our busiest Thanksgiving here in Newark as well.
00:22So as we prepare for this travel season, it's our Super Bowl.
00:26It's that time of year once again.
00:28Families eagerly waiting to hit the roads and the skies to visit loved ones across the country.
00:34We're visiting family in Orlando, Florida.
00:37Faisal and Monica started their day early, worried about the holiday rush.
00:41TSA says it's Wednesday and this upcoming Sunday that will be the busiest travel days
00:46with projections of up to 3 million people screened on Sunday alone, possibly breaking records.
00:53But as of Wednesday morning, Newark Airport was rather calm.
00:56We were very terrified last night.
00:58We were like, oh, we're going to have to wake up at 6 a.m. to catch our 1 p.m. flight.
01:03But coming here, it seems like it's not that crazy and it's kind of nice.
01:07We just pray we get through it. So far, so good, though.
01:10The Gargan family is on their way to Texas.
01:13They're feeling relieved after hundreds of flights were delayed this past weekend
01:17due to air traffic control staffing shortages.
01:20The disruptions served as a warning for what could happen during this peak holiday period.
01:25I was pretty anxious telling him we needed to get here like hours beforehand.
01:29And to help keep you on track, keep your airlines app handy for real-time updates on delays,
01:34gate changes and cancellations because there is always the possibility weather can come into play.
01:41There can be weather impacts both at the origin station, right where we are here in Newark,
01:46or at the destination station, but also critically anywhere along the route that that airplane is going to fly.
01:52If you're planning to fly, experts say a little preparation can go a long way to make your journey less stressful.
01:59For AccuWeather, I'm Allie Reed.