Thanksgiving travel expected to surge near pre-pandemic levels

Millions of Americans are giving the bird to COVID-19 this Thanksgiving — with travel projected to be nearly on par with pre-pandemic levels as more venture out to feast with their families.

A staggering 53.4 million people are expected to travel by road, plane and rail this week — up 13 percent from 2020, when the pandemic stymied large holiday gatherings, according to forecasts from AAA.

And, with infections on the rise across the country, 90 percent are expected to hit the road, the nonprofit says.

Friday was the single busiest air travel day since the pandemic began and the Transportation Security Administration expects that trend to continue as it prepares to screen about 20 million passengers this week, compared to about 26 million in 2019. 

“It’s good to be able to see [family] again,” said Long Beach resident Bryan Mikulaski, 21, at LaGuardia Airport Tuesday as he prepared to fly to Montana to see them for the holiday.  

“This is the first time all the cousins are going to be together and I miss my grandmother’s cooking, the mashed potatoes and gravy on everything.”

Married couple Amber and Lucas Freeze, both 31, said the airport was surprisingly calm ahead of their trip to Nashville, Tenn.  

“We left really early, we weren’t sure about the traffic from the city but everything was easy,” said Amber, a landscape shadow box artist. 

“We’re really looking forward to going back because it’ll be the most time we’ve spent with our family since 2020. It’s going to be both sides of our families for the first time.” 

Robert Sinclair, the senior manager of public affairs for AAA Northeast, said widespread vaccine confidence paved the way for higher travel numbers this year compared to last. 

“What we’re seeing with so many people traveling for the holiday despite the hindrances is just really heavy, pent-up demand. People are just really eager to get out and do something,” Sinclair told The Post. 

“We’ve been cooped up for so long and we’re just really dying to get out and take a trip.”

Wednesday is expected to be the busiest travel day for those driving to their holiday destination, and traffic is projected to be higher than usual with more Americans opting to travel by road than previous years.

“I never remember 90 percent of holiday trippers driving before and I’ve been doing this job for 21 years now,” Sinclair said, adding the number usually hovers around 80 to 85 percent.

The worst traffic in the nation is, of course, expected in the Big Apple, particularly on a stretch of the eastbound section of the Long Island Expressway from Borden Avenue to Little Neck Parkway in Queens, AAA projections show. 

Congestion on that stretch of the expressway is projected to be 482 percent higher than usual between 2:30 and 6:30 p.m., according to the projections, calculated by the research firm Inrix. 

“Don’t go anywhere near that road,” Sinclair warned.

For those traveling by air, the busiest day is expected to be on Sunday. In 2019, the TSA screened more than 2.8 million people on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, breaking the record for the most passengers in a single day in the agency’s 18-year history. 

“We are ready,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said during a Friday press briefing at Washington Reagan National Airport. 

“We will be able to handle the passenger volumes that we anticipate seeing.”

On Monday, the agency announced 93 percent of employees were in compliance with the federal vaccine mandate, which started Monday, and said the requirement will not impact holiday travel. 

Major carriers Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are expecting to see major flight increases compared to the dismal travel rates in 2020. 

Delta said it expects to fly as many as 5.6 million passengers from Friday through Nov. 30, a 300 percent increase from 2020 but about 700,000 fewer travelers than 2019.

United is projecting 4.5 million passengers during the Thanksgiving holiday, which is about 88 percent of 2019’s business.

With Post wires