NEW YORK — Some trains were sold out and light snow slowed traffic in Denver, but short airport lines surprised people who got a head start on what was predicted to be a day of record travel on the eve of Thanksgiving.
The sun wasn’t even up when people started heading to train stations and airports with luggage, children and homemade food for family reunions or fun getaways.
Surveys indicated a record 38.7 million U.S. residents were likely to travel 50 miles or more for the holiday between Wednesday and Sunday, up about 1.5 percent over last year, according to the AAA auto club.
About 31.2 million of them were expected to drive despite gas prices that were nearly 85 cents more per gallon than they were a year earlier. The national average for regular gasoline on Nov. 16 was $3.09 a gallon, up from $2.23 on Nov. 17, 2006.
“The question becomes, ‘Is $10 or $15 more for gas enough to change travel plans?’ and obviously most Americans said ‘no,’ ” said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman Lon Anderson in Washington.
Gas prices entered into Christopher Bruce’s decision to take a circuitous, 11-hour train ride instead of driving from western Pennsylvania to Baltimore.
“Yeah, it takes the whole day, but it’s cheaper in the long run, by the time I fill up the tank, get a meal and everything,” Bruce, a student at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., said at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.
Despite the gas prices, AAA has said, prices for hotels, airfares and car rentals are mostly declining, with car rentals averaging 12 percent lower than last year, airline tickets down about 7 percent and some hotel holiday rates down 3 percent.
Light check-in volume surprised travelers departing from the United Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.
“We were expecting a much longer delay. LAX is infamous for that,” said Charles Gwyer, 70, of Philadelphia. He and his wife were heading to Hawaii for a family gathering after a stopover in Los Angeles.
Another reason for the smoother-than-expected sailing on Wednesday seemed to be that more people are turning Thanksgiving into an extended vacation rather than a long weekend, said Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride.
“It looks like people started the holiday on the 16th, the Friday before,” Pride said. But while O’Hare expected about 206,000 travelers Wednesday — some 3,000 less than an average day — Monday is likely to be hectic with 237,000 people expected, she said.
Weather was not a big factor Wednesday, said Michael Musher, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Although snow bogged down traffic in parts of Denver and made some Colorado mountain roads slushy, snowy or icy, only two flights were listed as delayed at Denver International Airport, the nation’s fourth busiest. Airport officials spent $31 million on snow-removal equipment this year, following a storm last December that shut the airport down for two days.
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