Arizonans traveling for Thanksgiving expected to increase over last year

PHOENIX — If you are like hundreds of thousands of other Arizonans who are planning to hit the roads or the skies to reach their destinations ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, you should start bracing yourself for the masses.

Gregory Roybal, a spokesman with the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, told KTAR News 92.3 FM officials are anticipating a 20 percent increase in passengers flying through Phoenix over the year prior. An estimated 66,000 people in Arizona flew to their destination for last year’s holiday, a 4.4 percent jump over 2016.

But the vast majority of Arizonans who are traveling for the holiday — 908,000 — are expected to hit the road for Thanksgiving, which is up over five percent from last year, according to AAA spokeswoman Michelle Donati.

“We estimate we will rescue more than 6,800 Arizona travelers on the roadside over the Thanksgiving travel period,” she said.

Sky Harbor spokeswoman Krishna Patel also told KTAR News 92.3 FM travelers flying through the airport — or anyone picking up or dropping off loved ones from the airport — should consider using the Sky Train to avoid congestion on roadways and outside terminals.

Travelers were also encouraged to confirm their flight status with their airline before heading to the airport and arrive at Sky Harbor at least two hours before departure if they are flying domestically and at least three hours before if they are flying internationally.

Security wait times can also be tracked on SkyHarbor.com or on one of the flight information display boards in each terminal.

Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com, cautioned travelers to have patience when making their way through airports this week, as it’s going to be very, very busy.

Seaney’s No. 1 travel tip? He told Arizona’s Morning News last week that travelers should sign up for flight alerts the night before so you can take good quality information and avoid problems before they occur.

AAA projects that an estimated 54.3 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more away from home this Thanksgiving weekend, a 4.8 percent increase over last year.

Of those Americans traveling for the holiday, the vast majority are expected to be driving, but another 4.27 million will be flying; and 1.48 will be on trains, buses or cruise ships, according to AAA.

INRIX, a global mobility analytics company, predicts travel times in the most congested cities could be as much as four times longer than normal over the Thanksgiving holiday period from Wednesday through Sunday.

INRIX and AAA predict drivers will experience the greatest amount of congestion during the early evening commute period, with travel times starting to increase on Monday.

In most cases, the best days to travel will be on Thanksgiving Day, Friday or Saturday. Drivers should expect increased travel times on Sunday, as most holiday travelers will be making their way home.

Drivers in Arizona should hit the road before noon on Wednesday in order to beat the heaviest traffic, Arizona Department of Transportation spokesman Doug Neitzel told KTAR News 92.3 FM. 

“Traffic will start to build on highways like the (Interstate 17) northbound after 1 p.m.,” he said.

Some of the other highways that are expected to see heavy traffic include State Route 87 toward Payson and Interstate 10 toward Tucson.

“Those are the highways you have to keep an eye on,” he added.

But luckily for drivers, gas prices are not expected to be an obstacle: The national average for gas is $2.75, and GasBuddy thinks gas prices will keep falling. The Boston-based company is recommending motorists hold off on filling up after Tuesday’s 7 percent single-day drop in the price of crude oil extended the record streak of 12 days that oil moved lower.

The national average has shed 24 cents per gallon in the last month with some states seeing even bigger monthly declines: Michigan is down 33 cents, while Indiana is down 32 cents on average versus a month ago.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Nailea Leon, Jim Cross and Taylor Kinnerup and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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