SAN ANTONIO — The Thanksgiving travel season is in full swing with millions expected to fly the skies.
Right now the airport isn't too crowded. However, that is expected to change in a big way tomorrow, as the day before Thanksgiving is the busiest day to fly out of town.
"I go on airplanes all of the time. He's only been on a plane once," said Justin and Julianne Almendarez who are heading to Nevada with their grandmother and mother Leigha. So far they've had no hiccups. Leigha Almendarez told us, "It's been very easy."
Why did she pick today to fly? Almendarez said, "We just decided to fly today because the tickets were cheaper today than tomorrow and yesterday."
Daniel Armbruster, AAA spokesperson told us, "There's still a lot of pent up demand coming out of the pandemic. 2023 has been a very big year for travel. A lot of people had been waiting a year or two to travel again. And so we're seeing that play out."
AAA says 4.7 million people will fly over the Thanksgiving holiday. That is a 6.6% increase since 2022. It is also the highest number of air travelers since 2005. Armbruster added, "We haven't seen the numbers just yet, but certainly for this week, we're looking at one of the busiest Thanksgivings on record. And so it's going to be very, very busy."
Here are some tips to make your flight as smooth as possible. Give yourself extra time. You never know what traffic or other delays you may run into. Pack snacks for the flight, especially if you have kids. Stay hydrated throughout your travels. Don't check luggage if you don't have to. And upgrade your seat, because right now first class tickets are much cheaper because fewer people are traveling for business.
Armbruster added, "Moving forward, we still have the Christmas holidays ahead. Likely that's going to be very busy, too."
When it comes to parking the airport told us there should be plenty of spots especially because they have a brand new lot for extremely busy times like Thanksgiving, that will hold an additional 500 vehicles.