Thanksgiving travel hits highest level since pandemic began, well below 2019 mark

Still, that’s less than half of the 7 million passengers TSA screened during the weekend before Thanksgiving last year.

What’s more, AAA Travel estimates that about 47.8 million people will travel by automobile and nearly 2.4 million by aircraft this holiday.

But the travel insurance firm says those figures represent huge declines from just last year, which saw 55 million travelers for Thanksgiving.

“AAA anticipates at least a 10% drop in travel — the largest one-year decrease since the Great Recession in 2008,” the firm said last week in its annual national survey.

In addition, Mike Compton, CEO of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, said that the managers of the controlled-access roadway anticipate “fewer cars on our roadway than in prior years” during the Thanksgiving holiday, which traditionally begins Tuesday evening and lasts until Sunday.

On Monday, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn told reporters that ridership demand this year was about 20% that for last Thanksgiving, which saw the “greatest level of demand” ever for the holiday.

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines for Thanksgiving to limit the spread of the virus — suggesting smaller outdoor gatherings, limited travel, social distancing, mask wearing and minimal consumption of alcohol.

About 144 million Americans aged 18 or older — more than two-thirds the adult population of the country — said they have canceled overnight plans more than 100 miles from home, according to demographer Cheryl Russell’s Demo Memo blog, analyzing data published by the U.S.

Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who has pushed for cash refunds for skipped flights during the pandemic, said people who dropped their Thanksgiving travel are doing the right thing and following public health guidance