TripIt Data: More Than Double the Travelers Take to the Skies for Thanksgiving 2022

Despite a season of disruption, many Americans plan to travel this Thanksgiving. To find out what exactly that means for the skies, roads, and lodging locations, we took a closer look at our data. 

TripIt analyzed U.S. origin flight, rental car, lodging, and vacation rental reservations in TripIt for Thanksgiving 2022 and compared the findings to the equivalent booking period in 2021.  

 After two Thanksgivings impacted by COVID-19, many more Americans are planning to travel to visit friends and family or to get away this year. And while top destinations won’t see huge shifts, these locations can expect to see double or more the number of reservations. 

Despite disruptions, Americans prepare for takeoff

Airports across the U.S. will see the largest crowds on Wednesday, November 23, followed by Tuesday, November 22, with Newark, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago O’Hare among the top 10.  

While airports will be busier than ever, we know travelers have learned from the recent past and will arrive prepared for the worst. In a recent survey of TripIt users we found that due to first-hand experience with disruptions or ongoing news headlines, nearly all (93%) will change their behavior when it comes to preparing for a trip. While some will arrive earlier than they have in the past (43%), nearly as many will come expecting a delay—prepared with snacks and reading material (44%) — and will avoid checking a bag (44%). Those who do check bags are also taking matters into their own hands, with 23% now planning to use tracking-technology (such as Apple AirTags). 

We expect some of the busiest airports and busiest departure times (listed in order of busiest) to be:  

The top flight destinations have only shifted slightly from last year, with big cities remaining as hot spots, and possibly seeing bigger crowds than usual. For example, while Las Vegas, New York, and Chicago barely changed from 2021 to 2022 rankings, the number of flight reservations to these destinations doubled year over year.  

Bumpy roads ahead

While rental car reservations are the closest to reaching pre-pandemic metrics, shy just 14% of 2019 reservations, they made a much more conservative increase when comparing 2021 volume to 2022 than air travel—only a 35% increase. This could be the result of the ongoing fluctuation in gas prices, or perhaps, similar to air travel, due to disruptions experienced this summer. More than a third (36%) of those who traveled by car this past summer experienced disruptions, including 17% who dealt with longer-than-expected traffic times and 10% who said their rental car wasn’t available as expected.  

The top 25 car rental destinations remain largely the same as last year with slight shifts in rankings, and only Seattle and Philadelphia displacing Fort Myers, FL and Palm Springs, CA. 

Stays remain steady

Las Vegas, New York, and Orlando have held the top 3 spots for lodging reservations for the past 3 years, and this year is no different. The remainder of the top 25 list for accommodations, similar to flights and car rentals, remains stable without some of the dramatic shifts in rankings we’ve seen in years past. For the subset of vacation rental reservations however, there is one big change—New York City jumped from #26 in 2021 to #1 in 2022. And one other unexpected change: Albuquerque jumped from #195 to #25. 

Another consistency when it comes to hotel stays and vacation rental stays? Length. Hotel reservations average a stay of 3.1 days, while vacation rental reservations average a stay of 4.5 days, similar to what we saw for Labor Day this year as well.