Thanksgiving Travel In NorCal: The Best, Worst Times To Hit The Road

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Highways and airports in NorCal are expected to be congested with projections for record travel over Thanksgiving weekend, the busiest travel holiday of the year.

AAA said that about 80 million people will travel 50 miles or more from their homes over the Thanksgiving travel period. This year, AAA expanded the Nov. 26 to Dec. 2 travel period by an additional two days to better capture the flow of holiday travelers. Thanksgiving is on Thursday, Nov. 28.

This year, 1.7 million more people are expected to travel for Thanksgiving than in 2023. AAA expects travel to be up across the board, from driving to flying to cruising.

About 72 million people plan to drive. Gas prices are lower this Thanksgiving season compared to 2023, when the national average for regular gas was $3.26 a gallon. As of Tuesday, California motorists were paying an average of $4.45 for a gallon of regular gas, according to AAA.

Falling oil prices could push the national average below $3 a gallon for the first time since 2021, and that could happen before the travel period starts, AAA said.

When To Avoid The Bay Area

The auto club’s transportation data partner, INRIX, suggests staying away from certain metropolitan areas when traffic is the heaviest.

According to the INRIX analysis, NorCal travelers should avoid I-80 eastbound at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 26 to avoid delays of three and a half hours. Traffic is expected to be about 88 percent higher than normal.

The best and worst times to travel over the holiday period are (all times local):

• Monday, Nov. 25: 1-5 p.m., worst travel time; before 11 a.m. best travel time
• Tuesday, Nov. 26: 1-7 p.m., worst travel time; before 10 a.m., best travel time
• Wednesday, Nov. 27: 1-5 p.m., worst travel time; before 10 a.m., best travel time
• Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28: Minimal traffic impact expected
• Friday, Nov 29: 7-10 a.m., worst travel time; after 1 p.m. best travel time
• Saturday, Nov. 30: 4-8 p.m., worst travel time; before 1 p.m., best travel time
• Sunday, Dec. 1: noon-6 p.m., worst travel time; before 1 p.m., best travel time
• Monday, Dec. 2: 9 a.m.-6 p.m., worst travel time; before 8 a.m. after 7 p.m., best travel times

Flying Out Of SFO?

Air travel is expected to set records this year with about 5.84 million people flying domestically for the holiday, an increase of percent compared to last year and 11 percent over 2019.

People who are flying out of or expecting guests to fly into SFO should prepare for long lines. A separate report, Hopper’s 2024 Thanksgiving Outlook & Busiest Airports, said the busiest day for air travel will be Sunday, Dec. 1 while the least busy day will be Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday on Nov. 29, and Tuesday, Dec. 3.

SFO ranks as the 12th busiest in the country, according to Aviation A2Z. You may have better luck at San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, which was ranked the 5th least crowded airport in the country in 2023 by LendingTree. We could not find a ranking for San Jose Mineta International Airport, though it only receives about 5 million passengers a year, a tenth of what SFO gets. The flipside, of course, is that SFO offers many more nonstop flights.

It’s a good idea to check a flight-tracking service such as FlightAware to see if flights are running on time before leaving for the airport.

The forecast also noted a 23 percent increase in international flight bookings, compared to last year, in part because the cost to fly internationally is down 5 percent. On domestic flights, travelers are paying about 3 percent more.

Cruises Are Also Up

Nearly 2.3 million people are expected to travel by other modes of transportation, including buses, cruises, and trains. This category is seeing an increase of almost 9 percent compared to last year and an 18 percent jump over 2019, in large part due to the popularity of cruising.

The demand for cruises has been red-hot post-pandemic, AAA said. Domestic and international cruise bookings are up 20 percent compared to last Thanksgiving.