Record number of travelers expected during Thanksgiving holiday exodus this week
NEW YORK -- It's Thanksgiving week and an expected record number of people will be taking to the skies, hitting the roads or riding the rails.
AAA estimates 80 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles.
At the nation's airports, the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday will likely be the busiest day and the agency is projected to screen 18.3 million people from Tuesday through Dec. 2, up 6% from last year and up 17% from 2022.
Those are massive numbers, so if an airport is in your future this week, officials say to plan ahead and get there early.
Air traffic controller shortage will play a role
Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal C was really the calm before the storm on Sunday. CBS News New York's Derick Waller spoke to officials about what travelers can expect from what many think will be be the busiest holiday travel season on record.
Newark is a major hub for United Airlines, which has close to 400 flights a day there. Officials said operations were running smoothly with very few delays, but in recent weeks there have been significant delays because of something totally out of the airlines' hands, a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Waller spoke exclusively with John Weigand, United's managing director of their operations center at Newark, about how that's affecting flights.
"We are working with them every single day. They are doing everything they can to produce some new controllers, and, just like pilots, you don't produce that overnight, right?" Weigand said. "They have to go to school, and then there is a proficiency piece to that."
Weigand said the shortage comes at a bad time because more people than ever are flying the friendly skies.
"Yeah, Derick. We're up, oh, almost 8, 9, 10%," Weigand said.
The TSA says close to 3 million people will fly on Tuesday and Wednesday, but next Sunday could crack 3 million, an all-time record.
"The busiest day will be Sunday, for sure," Weigand said.
As for the roads, expect them to be packed
Most people -- 72 million -- are planning to drive, according to AAA.
It was stop and go crossing the George Washington Bridge on Sunday, but Nicole Psarakis and her crew said they are thankful for lower gas prices, which are down compared to last year.
"My husband's family lives in Brooklyn. We're from upstate, Orange County, and so to split the holidays, today, we went to Brooklyn," Psarakis said.
If you're driving, AAA says the best time to hit the road is early in the morning and the worst times will be on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. AAA said the worst traffic is expected on the Long Island Expressway on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.