The only thing worrying Ontario resident Robin Green about her Thanksgiving holiday travel is the turkey meal that she’ll get dished up on a Caribbean cruise.
“I won’t miss cooking, but I’ll miss eating home cooking,” said Green, who made a short, 10-minute drive to Ontario International Airport from her home at the crack of dawn on Friday, Nov. 21 to board a Southwest Airlines flight to Houston’s Hobby airport.
“They’re going to call it turkey,” she said of the experience. “This will be something different to try.”
Green’s extended family of 20 nieces, great-granddaughter, daughter, husband and others, coordinated flights out of Ontario, John Wayne Airport and Los Angeles International Airport to begin their Thanksgiving adventure aboard a Carnival ship heading to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
They are among the millions in the region expected to flood roadways and airports during the holiday vacation week. Signs of congestion began last Friday, when many travelers got a jump on Thanksgiving trips before the broader frenzy.
A check of airports in recent days showed parking lots were jammed with cars, the government shutdown that ended nearly two weeks ago a fast-fading memory of widespread flight cancellations and delays.
Retired medical worker James Gregg, who flew into John Wayne from Casper, Wyoming, on Friday, breathed a sigh of relief that his flight didn’t encounter problems.
He didn’t want to miss watching his nephew play hockey in a local tournament in Irvine. Afterward, the 69-year-old Gregg — who grew up in Brea — was planning to drive a rental car to the Las Vegas suburbs so he could dine Thanksgiving Day with his niece and her husband.
“I’m cooking the apple and pumpkin pies,” said Gregg, standing outside the Alaska Airline terminal, smoking a cigarette, waiting for his ride.
“This was the first time I’ve ever done this on Thanksgiving. It was either coming here to do this or sit at home watching TV. I’ve got to get back home to finish stringing up my Christmas lights,” he said.
Record travelers
The Auto Club of Southern California says more driving is expected for Thanksgiving than ever before during the Nov. 25-Dec. 1 travel period.
Travelers are shaking off talk of a souring economy, a shaky job outlook, rising prices for groceries and gas. The statewide average price is $4.608 a gallon for regular unleaded, as of Nov. 24. It was $4.45 a gallon last Thanksgiving.
The Auto Club projects 6.78 million residents in Southern California will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday travel period, marking a 2.8% increase over last year and a new record, said club spokesman Doug Shupe. That’s 61% more travelers than the 4.2 million who hit the road in 2018, marking the seventh consecutive year of travel increases for the region, according to Shupe.
“It seems like people are budgeting for holiday vacations,” he said.
About 87% of all travelers during Thanksgiving will drive, while 10.3% — or 704,000 Southern Californians — will board a plane. The remaining travelers will catch a bus, train or ship to get to a destination serving up a slice of turkey, cranberry sauce or some other dish.
Beating the rush
Aliso Viejo residents Tiffany Hakala, husband Elgin and 15-year-old daughter Emerson also tried to beat some of the Thanksgiving travel rush by flying out of Ontario International Airport at 6 a.m. Friday.
After flying into Chicago’s Midway Airport, they plan to see the holiday lights parade along North Michigan Avenue on Saturday, then rent a car to visit families. “We’re brunching with his family in Plymouth (Michigan) and having dinner with my family in Tecumseh,” Tiffany Hakala said of her hectic Thanksgiving Day plans.
Travel demand also is picking up on Amtrak trains from San Diego to the Bay Area.
In 2024, Amtrak carried more than more than 1.1 million customers on its trains around the country during the Thanksgiving travel period, Nov. 22 through Dec. 1, a 4.2% increase from 2023.
In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Amtrak saw 34.5 million customer trips, setting an all-time record for ridership,
“As air travel becomes less reliable, more riders are choosing the convenience of rail — a trend that began before the government shutdown and any flight cancellations,” according to Olivia Irvin, a spokeswoman for the railroad in Oakland. “Thanksgiving demand is already picking up this week.”
For sure, pre-Thanksgiving travel forecasts at local airports is up this year…
—John Wayne expects “increased passenger traffic” through the airport from Nov. 25-Dec. 1, according to AnnaSophia Servin, spokeswoman with John Wayne.
—LAX expects about 2.5 million passengers traveling through the airport, sees an uptick of about 13.6% from year-ago projections before the holiday. “It’s just steady,” said LAX spokesman Justin Upshaw of the Nov. 20-Dec. 1 travel period. The duration of LAX’s Thanksgiving travel period has grown over the years — principally due to the effects of the pandemic that permitted remote work, giving people more options to travel beyond the busiest days of travel at the airport, Upshaw explained. The busiest day of travel is expected to be Sunday, Nov. 30, with 230,000 travelers.
—Ontario airport anticipates a record high number of 234,000 passengers traveling, a 4% increase over last year. “The one question is whether travelers changed their holiday plans during the shutdown,” an airport spokesman said. “It’s why we’re forecasting a more modest increase during the Thanksgiving weekend — though still at record levels.”
—San Diego International Airport expects as many as 875,000 people traveling through the airport during the Thanksgiving holiday period, Nov. 21 to Monday, Dec. 1. The daily passenger volume during this 11-day period is expected to reach as many as 80,000, which is a 2-3% increase over last year, said airport spokeswoman Nicole Hall. The busiest day to travel is expected to be Sunday, Nov. 30, with 90,000 travelers.
—Hollywood Burbank Airport was the lone airport expecting a holiday travel decline, with 5% fewer holiday passengers boarding departing planes. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration forecasts 129,838 passengers traveling through the Burbank airport from Nov. 21 to Tuesday, Dec. 2, versus the actual 136,594 who traveled last year, according to figures provided by Mike Christensen, a Burbank airport spokesman. He could not say whether the decline is due to fewer flights or routes.
However, a boost in travelers should come from Southwest Airlines going forward. Andrew Watterson, chief operating officer of Southwest, is expected to announce Tuesday, Nov. 25, a new West Coast service for a 14-gate, 355,000-square foot replacement terminal at the airport.
White Thanksgiving?
While airports are seeing record passenger travel, mountain resorts are keeping their fingers crossed they get a rush of skiers traveling to the slopes.
Snow has been light this season, casting doubt as to whether ski slopes will open in time for Thanksgiving Day — the unofficial target date, said Justin Kanton, a spokesman for the Big Bear Mountain Resort, which operates ski resorts Snow Summit and Bear Mountain.
Not helping matters is the closing of a main arterial road to the slopes, State Route 38, which was partially washed out in some sections when Tropical Storm Mario triggering mudslides in September, with alternate routes recommended.
“So far, we have received about 9-inches of snow this month – 1″-3″ last weekend and 3″-6″ last night (Nov. 20) — which isn’t enough to establish a base or open for the 2025-2026 season,” Kanton said. “We are also running our snow making operations as much as possible, conditions permitting, and hope to make an announcement about opening dates soon.”
On Monday, the San Bernardino Mountains resort said it was aiming to have its Coyote Creek Tube Park open by Dec. 5, and the Grizzly Ridge Tube Park at Snow Summit by Dec. 12. The snow play area and scenic sky chair rides are expected to operate Thanksgiving Day.
Some locals might notice fewer tourists jamming tourism hotspots in California over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The biggest noticeable change this year is a drop in visitors to Southern California airports from Canada, whose citizens have shifted their attitudes of America following saber-rattling from President Donald Trump to turn the northern neighbor into the “51st state.”
Canada’s statistics office says Canadians are continuing to boycott travel to the U.S., reporting in October that air travel dropped nearly 24%, and car travel by more than 30%. That’s the ninth consecutive month of falling travel to the U.S.
U.S. visitors were apparently eager to enjoy some Southern California sunshine this holiday. Seattle resident Derek Lockett was among them, waiting last Friday for a rideshare driver at John Wayne to bring his wife and two daughters, ages 8 and 12, to the Disneyland Resort.
“We’ve never done this before. We’ve always had a traditional meal,” said Lockett, whose wife Natalie chimed in to say that the emotional mood of traditional family gatherings changed drastically after her mother died in 2021.
“It’s exciting to try something new,” said Natalie Lockett of reservations to eat on Thanksgiving at Centrico, an open-air Mexican restaurant and cantina in the downtown Disney district in Anaheim. “It’s different.”