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Americans search for cheaper Thanksgiving trips

 
By The Associated Press | Published: November 26, 2009    Comment on this article Leave a comment

CHICAGO — 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.

photo - Travelers arrive at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. Despite plummeting gas prices and unusual last-minute holiday deals on airplane tickets, more people are expected to stick close to home this Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Travelers arrive at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. Despite plummeting gas prices and unusual last-minute holiday deals on airplane tickets, more people are expected to stick close to home this Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

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

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

Traveling for Thanksgiving at any cost was too much for Julie Bennink, 26, who works in public relations in Chicago.

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Related Topics: Culture and Lifestyle, Air Travel, Transportation, Holidays



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