Looming Thanksgiving storm has some travelers flying out of Boston's Logan Airport earlier than usual
BOSTON - Travelers rushed to Logan Airport on Monday hoping to get ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday crowds and a potential storm on Thursday.
Thanksgiving storm
"We wanted to make sure it's not too crazy in here [the airport]," Watertown resident Marina Garcia-Rangel told WBZ-TV.
A storm could hit the Northeast with rain and possibly snow on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
"I didn't even want to consider anything later and I could've left earlier but I said Monday should be a safe day," said Louisana resident Shaderick Emery.
Travelers are already putting backup plans in place in case the storm interrupts their flights.
"If I get stuck there's no problem, it's my family so I'm not so worried about it," said Ananda Boyadjiev from Maine.
"Luckily, should anything really bad happen like the flight gets canceled we can just stay another day or two," Watertown resident Al Garcia said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says that the highest number of flights will take off on Tuesday with roughly 50,000 flights in the air.
Travelers arrive early
"I was originally going to be coming home on Wednesday, but then I had to change my flight to today because I was concerned about not getting home in time," said Catherine Wagner who landed in Boston on Monday to visit family for the holiday.
Others like Margot de Ferranti flew in early because they were here on a mission. She will be leading the effort to get a successful Thanksgiving dinner on the table. "We need Tuesday and Wednesday to get Thursday happening," de Ferranti said. "My daughter and I sous chef each other but also, we wanted to see our grandchildren who are now in college and aren't always around."
Massport will have extra staff working this week to help with the influx of people at Logan. They are asking people to use a Real ID if they have it and to download the Fly Logan app to keep track of their flights and potential delays.
AAA says to expect delays across the United States due to a shortage in air traffic controllers. Airport workers also began striking on Monday at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina which is expected to impact travel.
Bad weather for drivers
People looking to hit the road instead of the skies should also be prepared for heavy congestion and bad weather. There are around 71 million people expected to hit the road, and they should expect poor driving conditions due to the rain and snow. AAA says to check car fluids, tire treads, and more before longer road trips.
"Go ahead and check things like your wiper blades. Same thing with headlights they can get foggy, they can yellow," said AAA spokesperson Jillian Young.
Demand for Thanksgiving travel has soared post-pandemic, according to AAA. They said that Thanksgiving is the busiest time to travel during the year and to expect traffic as soon as Monday.
"The bus ride here was a little bit delayed because of the traffic so that's one thing that I noticed is Thanksgiving traffic has already begun at the beginning of the week," Boyadjiev said.