People are hopping on planes or hitting the roads today on the first day of the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel period.
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – People are hopping on planes or hitting the roads today on the first day of the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel period.
The American Automobile Association said this Thanksgiving will be the busiest travel-wise in the last 12 years.
Between today and Sunday, they estimate more than 54 million Americans will travel 50 or more miles from home.
At the Miami International Airport, people began filtering in around 5 a.m. and the lines gradually increased through the morning. By 7 a.m. the security line was already winding down well past the start.
“Yeah, we figured it would be crazy, so we came here early to just get it all done,” says Eric Andrae.
Andrae and his family were checking in for their flight to Costa Rica, looking forward to a new destination for Thanksgiving this year.
“Dad’s got a lot planned. Spending time with family. We don’t see him that often, so that will be nice,” he said.
Blas Brown was also checking in, saying he traveled from Gainesville and gave up on extra sleep to avoid the crowds.
“I actually haven’t slept since yesterday, so I’ve been up for 24 hours!” he said with a laugh.
Miami International Airport expects 130,000 people on their peak days and the Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport said they should see about at 122,000 on their heavy days.
For those driving to their destination, about 2.5 million Floridians will be on the roads. More people are expected to drive than fly, with an estimated five percent increase in drivers from last year.
