Lower Gas Prices, More Holiday Travelers Expected

AAA is predicting that almost 47 million people will travel more than 50 miles from home from Wednesday through Sunday. “With my dad and parents, it’s expensive, you know, you need to have money”, Porras said.

Most travelers – 89 percent, or 42 million – will drive to their destination.

Gas prices are down from $2.81 per gallon a year ago, according to GasBuddy. Drivers are seeing some of the lowest gas prices in the country, in time for holiday travel.

The lower gas prices have meant that drivers will be more likely to travel longer distances and to stop by convenience stores to buy snacks than past year.

Travelers could encounter fog and some drizzle Wednesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Donofrio said.

The airport was also reminding passengers that US Airways has merged with American Airlines, now the dominant carrier in Philadelphia.

“This Thanksgiving, more Americans will carve out time to visit friends and family since 2007”, Marshall Doney, AAA president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The busy travel period comes as the State Department has issued a global travel alert, warning USA citizens of “increased terrorist threats” from groups like the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram.

Normally, TSA asks passengers to get to the airport 90 minutes before their flight. “We’re going to see more folks than ever taking to the roads and our highways”. Pittsburgh prices have gradually fallen from an annual high of $2.98 a gallon in June, but in the last two months have stayed mostly flat. GasBuddy analysts expect gasoline prices to keep moving downward through Thanksgiving Day weekend, so motorists can save on every gallon waiting for gas stations to drop prices further. In 2014, about 2.39 million Floridians traveled.

The busiest day to fly through Minneapolis-St.

“November gas prices have slid significantly lower and holiday travelers will certainly be the beneficiaries”, DeHaan said in a news release.