The busiest weekend for cross-country travel is fast approaching. A year ago, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) saw more than 2.56 million travelers pass through the country's airports the Sunday after Thanksgiving — below the 2.8 million people seen in 2019 but the highest number observed since the resurgence of travel post-pandemic.
Any time from the Wednesday before the holiday to the weekend afterwards is a period when both airports and roads are crowded while flights, especially when booked last-minute, can get egregiously expensive.
Related: TSA has a very unusual (but helpful) approach for busy holiday travel
While an October report from Expedia Group EXPE earlier this month showed that flights during Thanksgiving weekend are on average 14% lower than what was seen in 2022, particular routes are filling up fast.
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These are the routes to avoid if you don't want to break the bank for Thanksgiving travel
Looking at Google Flights GOOGL prices for the same routes booked for the weekend before Thanksgiving or in the days around the holiday, sports betting platform BetCarolina.com identified Los Angeles to San Francisco as the domestic route with the biggest price difference — the $105.73 average price during Thanksgiving weekend is a 111.4% hike from the $50.02 on the weekend before.
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Las Vegas to Los Angeles is not far behind with a 110.6% difference between $80.52 during Thanksgiving and $38.23 a week before. Shorter routes generally see a bigger difference. A cross-country flight between New York's JFK and LAX in Los Angeles rounds out the top three routes, but the $174.46 vs. $288.74 price difference is, at 65.5%, significantly less dramatic than the top two routes.
Those traveling to or from Georgia could have to brace for a more expensive experience since Atlanta was in three of the top routes on the list — Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta to New York's LaGuardia Airport and Atlanta to Orlando.
Ticket prices seem expensive? You should book now anyway
The last spot on the list was taken by a short flight within the state of Hawaii from Honolulu on Oahu to Maui's Kahului even if the difference between $72.39 on the weekend before Thanksgiving compared to the $77.67 over the holiday is not likely to significantly influence someone's decision to travel.
Denver-Las Vegas, Denver-Phoenix and Los Angeles to Chicago's O'Hare Airport are some of the other routes to make the list of flights with the most stark differences between Thanksgiving and non-Thanksgiving travel.
While the above-mentioned Expedia report shows that the cheapest time to book a Thanksgiving flight is 28 to 35 days before departure, those who missed that timeframe and are hoping to find a last-minute deal may not have much luck.
With travelers increasingly desperate to not miss out on sharing turkey with family, airfare tends to rise dramatically the closer one gets to the day itself — in past years, some travelers reported paying up to 400% more after finding themselves stranded over Thanksgiving.
Many of the conditions that help some score cheap last-minute flights, such as being flexible with the timing and destinations, are also not applicable when one needs to be in a specific place (typically, the family home) for the holiday.
