CNN.com - Millions taking to skies, roads for Thanksgiving

'I expect it to be a zoo'

By Marnie Hunter
CNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- As temperatures drop and autumn's leaves await raking on the ground, Americans are gearing up for the first big feast of the holiday season.

This year more Americans are expected to travel to join family and friends around the Thanksgiving table, according to a survey commissioned by AAA.

The survey of 1,300 U.S. adults estimates that overall Thanksgiving travel will rise 1.7 percent from last year, with 35.9 million Americans taking a trip 50 miles or more from home, compared to 35.3 million who traveled in 2001.

Nearly 31 million people will take to the roads this year, a slight increase over last year's tally, according to AAA figures.

The number of travelers taking to the skies is expected to increase 6 percent, from 4.8 million last Thanksgiving to 5.1 million this holiday period.

Charlie Iachetta, an advertising copywriter, is planning to fly from Raleigh, North Carolina, to visit family in Rye, New York, the day before Thanksgiving.

"I expect it to be a zoo," he said of the scene at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. His game plan: "Get there a couple hours early with a good book."

A native New Yorker, Iachetta said he was afraid to fly around this time last year. Only two months before, terrorists had flown hijacked planes into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, killing thousands and putting a damper on air travel. He and his family rented minivans in the months after the attacks to make the eight-hour drive between North Carolina and New York.

Their fears have lessened during the year, he said, but still linger. Iachetta's wife and 4-year-old daughter are taking a flight the weekend before the holiday, and he feels reassured that they're splitting up.

"Not to sound too morbid," he said, with a self-conscious chuckle. "I don't want to leave any orphans."

Safer?

The lines of airport travelers should be shorter this year thanks to an estimated 44,000 federal employees who have taken over screening duties from private contractors, said Paul Hudson, executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project (ACAP), a nonprofit air traveler advocacy organization.

In terms of whether we are safer or more secure now than a year ago, our answer is probably not. -- Paul Hudson, executive director, Aviation Consumer Action Project

But despite new security measures, passengers might not be any safer than they were before the attacks of September 11, 2001, said Hudson, who also serves on an advisory committee for the Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration.

"The bottom line is that the security has clearly improved since before 9/11, but in terms of whether we are safer or more secure now than a year ago, our answer is probably not, because the threat level has also increased pretty dramatically in the last couple of months," he said.

Not all fliers are anxious. Meda Hatcher, a banker in Chicago, Illinois, is flying to San Francisco, California, to visit her boyfriend during the long holiday weekend.

"I travel for business; I'm dating someone who lives in California," Hatcher said. "So I travel a lot, and I really don't ever think twice about it."

She said she plans to arrive at Midway Airport in Chicago at least two hours before her travel time to get through security.

Hatcher acknowledged that her flying habits have changed in the past year. "I do take more notice of the people in the waiting areas getting on the flight," she said.

That sort of observation is a significant improvement in aviation security, according to ACAP's Hudson.

"One of the things that has clearly improved on security has, really, nothing to do with the government or the airlines or the airports, and that has been that the flight crews and passengers are now aware as never before of the threat," he said.

Ground transportation

The majority of Thanksgiving travelers won't be worried about security screenings. They'll be loading up the trunk and hitting the highway.

Lori McLemore has opted to drive the 13 hours between Atlanta, Georgia, and Fayetteville, Arkansas, with her husband and two small children, saying it's cheaper to drive than fly.

"It's just expensive for a family of four to get (airline) tickets," said McLemore, director of Web development for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. "It would easily have been a thousand dollars or more."

Her family will be among the 30.8 million people AAA estimates will travel by motor vehicle this holiday period. That number is up nearly 1 percent from a year ago, when 30.6 million traveled by car.

Holiday motorists should be vigilant. Last year 585 people died in traffic crashes during the four-day Thanksgiving holiday period, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"There's no reason to think it's going to be any worse this year," said NHTSA spokesperson Elly Martin. "We're certainly hoping that it's going to be better."

Martin urged travelers not to mix alcohol with driving and to make sure that everyone in their vehicles is buckled up.

Although the number of motorists is expected to increase, the percentage of holiday travelers traveling by car will likely drop slightly. This year, 86 percent are expected to drive, compared with 87 percent of holiday travelers last year, the highest percentage of auto travel ever recorded by AAA.

McLemore's family is planning to leave Tuesday night to break up the trip for the kids. She said she expects that getting out of Atlanta to be the most congested leg of the trip.

"From recent times when we've traveled, I know that half of Atlanta seems to all get on the highways at the same time. So in a way I'm somewhat relieved that we're leaving on Tuesday night because I think Wednesday is just going to be 10 times worse."

She's planning to pack plenty of activities to keep her children, 3 and 7, occupied.

"You drive one or two hours and they say 'Are we there yet?' and you say, 'Great, I've got 10 more hours of this.'"