Travel towards the turkey feast relatively smooth
By Marnie Hunter
CNN
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Air travelers wait for their rides Wednesday at Oakland, California, International Airport.
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CNN's Michael Okwu and Kris Osborn check travel at LaGuardia and O'Hare as the rush starts.
CNN's Elaine Quijano on ways to avoid lengthy delays at the nation's airports this holiday season.
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(CNN) -- Most travelers will be sitting down to their Thanksgiving Day feast with a relatively easy day of travel under their belt.
Few people ran into flight delays and most faced good weather conditions across much of the country on the eve of the big meal.
But holiday travelers aren't out of the woods yet with the trip home still ahead of them.
"Wednesday was great, and we are very pleased, but passengers should know that Sunday will be even a busier day," warned Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Deirdre O'Sullivan.
Delays were minimal through Wednesday afternoon, with the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic Web site indicating most flights were on time.
Minor security incidents were reported Wednesday at airports, including one passenger at Los Angeles International Airport who packed fireworks in his checked luggage, setting off explosive detection machines.
Another man was arrested in Los Angeles for carrying an ammunition magazine, and in Minneapolis a 19-year-old man was arrested for concealing a 3-inch knife in his belt buckle, according to the TSA.
Most delays were caused by high winds or high passenger counts.
Strong winds caused minor delays to arriving flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. High volumes of passengers caused some delays at Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport in Minnesota; Newark International Airport in New Jersey and at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport in Florida.
O'Sullivan said lines at security-screening checkpoints peaked at about 20 minutes at airports in Northern Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Boston, Massachusetts. She said the lines dispersed quickly and that most passengers waited in line less than 10 minutes.
Weather conditions east of the Mississippi River looked good. In the West, snow from Salt Lake City, Utah, to points west of Denver, Colorado, could snarl highway travel. Rainfall in the Pacific Northwest from Seattle to Tacoma, Washington, could also cause congestion.
31 million to hit the road
According to estimates by the travel group AAA, more Americans will travel this holiday period than last year, with 36 million traveling 50 miles or more from home, the largest number since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That's up 2.4 percent from 2002, when 35.2 million traveled over Thanksgiving.
The vast majority of those travelers, 86 percent -- or about 31.1 million, are expected to travel by motor vehicle, a 2.5 percent increase from last year's 30.3 million road travelers, the automobile association said.
Dominic DeJoseph, 37, a filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn, New York, expects heavy traffic on his 130-mile drive to see his parents in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He planned to leave Wednesday night or Thursday morning, depending on traffic reports.
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Holiday travelers arrive Wednesday at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to find air traffic moving smoothly.
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"I'm expecting it to be pretty awful," he said. "I'm taking Interstate 80. I have to cross through Manhattan and then the Lincoln Tunnel, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so I think it'll be hell."
Liz Neblett, a spokeswoman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, advised travelers to expect traffic and plan for it.
"Allow plenty of time to get there, make sure your vehicle is in good shape, and make sure, No. 1, that you're buckled up and No. 2, if you do drink, get a designated driver," she said.
Last year, 543 people died in traffic crashes during the Thanksgiving holiday period, according to the NHTSA. Forty-seven of those fatalities were alcohol-related.
Many drivers hope to skirt some of the congestion by avoiding travel on Wednesday and Sunday, the busiest days of the holiday period.
That's Cali Garner's game plan. Garner, 28, a Web site and graphic designer living in Atlanta, Georgia, planned to leave for Tallahassee, Florida, around noon Tuesday. She'll head on to Sarasota later in the week and probably drive home Saturday.
"I'd like to come back on Sunday, but I'm really scared I'll be sitting in traffic for 12 hours," she said.
Easing hassles
Travelers taking to the skies should see notice slightly larger holiday crowds. AAA estimates that 4.6 million Americans plan to fly this year, up nearly 1 percent from last Thanksgiving.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge urged Americans to remain vigilant during the holiday period, saying the threat of terror attacks remains high, Reuters reported. (Full story)
To ease the security screening process at airports, the Transportation Security Administration recommends putting loose keys, change and cell phones in carry-on bags before going through security checkpoints.
Passengers also should take laptops out of carrying cases and remove coats to avoid a secondary hand-wand inspection.
The loss of thousands of full-time screening positions earlier this year should not negatively affect the holiday travel period, TSA spokesman Brian Turmail said.
"Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's are things you plan for, and you make sure you get your staff available," he said.
Leaves have been canceled and federal screeners are working overtime during the holiday period, Turmail said.
"We're really more worried about bad weather this Thanksgiving, which will definitely have an impact on the whole wait process at airports," he said.
