Nearly 3 Million Floridians Travelling By Road & Air For Thanksgiving This Week

As we begin Thanksgiving week, the AAA are forecasting that nearly three million Floridians are set to travel for Thanksgiving this year.

Millions of Floridians are expected to hit the roads and drive to their Thanksgiving destination, with many more heading to the airport this week too, with the AAA warning travellers to plan ahead of time, and expect delays.

More than 2.9 million Floridians are expected to travel, that’s 50,000 more Florida travelers than last year’s holiday and nearly 22,000 more than 2019.

Nationally AAA expects 54.6 million Americans to travel this Thanksgiving, which is slightly below pre-pandemic levels, but the Florida Thanksgiving travel season is expected to be the busiest since 2005.

“Travel is still roaring back from the pandemic,” said Debbie Haas, Vice President of Travel for AAA – The Auto Club Group.

“While gas prices and other inflationary pressures weigh on budgets, travel remains a top priority for Americans, particularly during the holidays. Travel spending is at the highest level since the pandemic began, which is a driving force behind our projections this year. AAA expects busy roads and long lines at the airport, so leave early and be flexible with your travel plans.”

If you are hitting the road for the holidays, leave early.

Travelers should expect much heavier than normal congestion Monday-Wednesday afternoon and early evening.

Traffic will be lighter during the morning and late evening hours and on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest travel periods of the year, and Orlando International Airport is getting ready to welcome a record amount of passengers this Thanksgiving holiday travel period, with the number of passengers between November 18 and 29 expected to reach 1.75 million.

The airport is warning travellers to expect heavy traffic around the airport, and with tens of thousands of passengers transiting through the airport, the advise is to arrive early.

Plus, as this is also the first major travel holiday since the new $2.8 billion Terminal C opened, passengers are also being reminded that if they have a flight leaving from Terminal C, to plan accordingly because it’s different now than if you’re coming into Terminals A and B.

Airport officials said airport parking is a big focus for the holiday season as garages and surface lots are expected to reach capacity.

“We expect them to fill, so just give yourself ample time to find adequate parking to satisfy your needs,” Director of Operations Marquez Griffin said. “We intend to keep the community informed, as to the parking status, so that they can make informed decisions prior to getting to the airport.”

MCO could reach capacity in all of its parking garages and in the North Park Place and South Park Place parking lots.

West Park Place, which is only activated during extremely busy periods, will also be operational when all other parking is full.

Travelers seeking parking at MCO are advised to monitor the MCO App for the most up-to-date parking information.