US airlines are preparing for what their trade group expects to be a record Thanksgiving. Airlines for America projects that nearly 29 million passengers will fly on US carriers between Friday, November 20, and Monday, November 30, an average of about 2.7 million a day. To handle the crowds, airlines are offering roughly 38,000 more seats per day than they did over the same period in 2025. The group expects Sunday, November 29, and Monday, November 30, to be the busiest days of the period.
The big carriers are already putting numbers on it. American Airlines has scheduled 7,021 flights for Sunday, November 29, its busiest day since the pandemic, with around 1,130 of its aircraft in the air at the same moment at midday. Between November 19 and December 1, American expects more than 8 million customers across nearly 85,000 flights. United expects about 600,000 passengers on November 29, more than 540,000 on Friday, November 20, and more than 6.6 million over its 13-day holiday window.
Those travellers are paying more for the privilege. Hopper puts the average domestic round-trip fare for people returning on November 29 at $604, and Charlotte station WSOC reports that Thanksgiving fares are the highest in at least a decade. Airlines point to fuel: A4A says the jet fuel spot price averaged a record $4.64 a gallon in October.
For context, the TSA’s busiest day on record came on November 30, 2025, when it screened more than 3.13 million people. Anyone flying this year should arrive early, book any remaining seats soon rather than waiting for a late drop, and consider flying on Thanksgiving Day itself or the Tuesday after, when crowds are typically thinner.
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