Post-Thanksgiving travel goes fairly smoothly at Tri-State Area airports

Area airports have far fewer delays and cancellations than expected

NEW YORK -- With Thanksgiving behind us, many people were heading home on Sunday night. The Transportation Security Administration anticipates it to be the busiest travel day of the holiday weekend.

According to FlightAware, there have been hundreds of flight delays across LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International airports, but only two cancellations at each.

CBS New York spoke with travelers at LaGuardia, including many lucky ones.

"It was honestly pretty easy. There were no delays," New Rochelle resident Katherine Krueger said.

That's a trip to be thankful for, especially when joining millions flying this Thanksgiving break, which is expected to be record breaking.

The TSA was bracing for 2.9 million passengers on Sunday, alone.

"It was actually really good, all things considered. I was expecting it to be way worse," said Kate Gallagher of Larchmont.

It was only an hour delay, both ways, for the Gallaghers, who returned to LaGuardia from Miami.

"We were a little delayed by 15 minutes because they had to de-ice," said Bridget Karis of Merrick, who was returning from Michigan.

They were still on fire after seeing the Michigan-Ohio State football game.

"This was singlehandedly the best sporting event I've ever been to. It was that crazy," said Neil Sambursky of Port Washington.

The Samburskys said their only issue traveling was trying to get an Uber home from the airport.

"We called the Uber and it said seven, eight minutes and that was probably now at least 10 minutes ago," Karen Sambursky said.

Add that to David Klingman's already long travel day from North Carolina.

"I didn't expect the seven-hour delay, but I did expect ridiculous traffic when I got here," Klingman said.

Signs along the Long Island Expressway warned of delays around the airport on Sunday and Monday.

While our area only saw light rain, snow slowed some travelers in the Midwest.

Still, American Airlines said, to date, it has canceled fewer flights than any other Thanksgiving period in its history, and it has been a busy one.

"It was smooth. Just like, everywhere was crowded. Tons of people, not enough seats in the airport. It kind of comes with the territory. It's the sacrifice you make to travel this time of year," said Ram Sanchez of Brooklyn.

AAA said Sunday is typically the busiest day for return travel at airports. Data shows Monday is a popular travel day, too, so be sure to prepare for that.

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