Over 55 million Americans hit the skies and the roads to travel this Thanksgiving

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - According to AAA around 49 million Americans traveled on the roads this Thanksgiving and around 4.7 million flew making this the second busiest year for Thanksgiving travel.

“There is so much pent-up demand post-pandemic that even though they’re all these good reasons not to travel Americans say you know what I’m gonna travel, regardless,” regional director of public affairs for AAA Skyler McKinley said.

One man says he traveled across the country to be with loved ones.

“There’s very few flights that go to Colorado Springs, direct from Atlanta, so they tend to be packed full and busy,” Kerrti Ram said.

Others say they were relieved to see the shorter lines at the Colorado Springs Airport.

“I’ve had holiday travel before where it takes so long just to get it out of the airport so it was great,” Colorado Springs resident Brittany Givens said. “Just be able to pull up pick them up and get on home.”

McKinely says they have seen massive numbers for travel all year long. Adding that more people are taking extra time for their vacations.

“I think folks are making the most of the time they have together in ways that we haven’t seen before,” McKinley said.

McKinley says he expects the upcoming December holiday travel to be packed with people. He also says the best advice he can give travelers for the December holidays is to buy your tickets now and do not wait for deals, he tells me the days of those last-second airline deals are over.