Travelling cheap for Thanksgiving

AP

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CHICAGO (AP) — Millions of Americans got an early jump on their Thanksgiving travel Wednesday, with many opting to drive or take trains and buses instead of shelling out more money for flights amid a sour economy still hitting household budgets hard.

People get in line for their trains on the day before Thanksgiving, at the Amtrak station at Union Station in Washington on Wednesday. Photo AP

At a Greyhound station in Louisville, Ky., 18–year–old Cathy Smith waited patiently to catch a bus to Tennessee. Smith has flown home in the past, but her grandparents — who paid for her bus ticket — ruled that out this year.

"It was the price of the ticket," she said.

Many Americans are forgoing air travel for Thanksgiving and opting for cheaper alternatives because of economic pressures. Others are staying home completely — partly to avoid traffic and airport lines, partly to save a buck.

Thanksgiving travel plummeted 25 per cent between 2007 and 2008, and many of those habits seem to be sticking this year. The number of people travelling is likely to inch up only by about 1.4 per cent, according to an AAA prediction based on a survey of 1,300 households.

About 38 million domestic travellers are expected to go somewhere this holiday — a far cry from the roughly 58 million who made holiday journeys in 2005 when the economy was better.

Airlines had been depending on holiday travellers more than usual because travel has been so weak the rest of the year, said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Hunter Keay. The AAA predicts there will be a 6.7 percent decrease in air travellers this holiday compared with last year.