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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has reported that the Thanksgiving travel period broke all sorts of records with yesterday, November 27th seeing over 2.9 million passengers screened, which is the most on record. All of these travelers might have had to wait in line, but a surprisingly low number of them faced cancellations. All of the US airlines are reporting successful holidays and getting people where they needed to go.
American Airlines
Through November 26th, American Airlines has reported that 6.5 million customers on more than 59,000 flights drove the highest-ever load factor for these dates. That’s not including the record number of passengers traveling yesterday. Only only 55 out of more than 59,400 flights cancelled (only 0.09% of the schedule). Nearly all the cancellations were weather-related, which is impressive since Chicago had some snow. American actually went nine days (from November 16th to 24th) without cancelling a single mainline flight.
David Seymour, American’s Chief Operating Officer, said:
Millions of customers were counting on us to connect them with their families, friends and loved ones this Thanksgiving — and we delivered. The trust our customers place in us every day, but especially during the holidays, is something we don’t take for granted, and I could not be prouder of the team for delivering a safe, reliable and successful operation this Thanksgiving. We look forward to carrying this momentum into the December holidays.”
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines also delivered stellar results through its reporting on the period between November 17th and 26th. It flew more than 3.8 million customers on over 39,000 flights. Only seven flights were cancelled during this holiday period and five of the days saw no cancellations at all.
Mike Spanos, Delta’s Chief Operating Officer, said:
Delta people went above and beyond, as they always do, to get our customers safely to their loved ones during this special time of year. They delivered outstanding operational reliability with welcoming, caring, elevated service for our customers.”
Southwest Airlines
After last Christmas’ holiday meltdown, Southwest got it together for this past Thanksgiving weekend. The airline flew 41,000 flights that served more than 5.1 million passengers between November 17th and 26th. Southwest has not reported the specific number of cancellations, but said that 82% of flights “were within 14 minutes of their scheduled arrival times.” Southwest had no cancellations on Thanksgiving Day.
United Airlines
While the carrier has yet to release its latest numbers, it did provide insight into the period between November 17th and 23rd. During this time, the carrier transported more than 4.5 million passengers (up 9% from last year) and had a cancellation rate of just 0.22%. We’ll have to wait for results from the full travel weekend.
BREAKING NEWS: Yesterday (Nov. 26), TSA screened just over 2.9M individuals at airports nationwide, which represents an agency record – the busiest day ever for air travel.
As #HolidayTravel season continues, we remind passengers to please arrive at the airport early.
— TSA (@TSA) November 27, 2023
Anthony’s Take: It’s awesome to see all of the US carriers perform so well this Thanksgiving holiday. People got where they needed to be and largely on time. I hope this trend continues through Christmas.
(Image Credits: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines.)
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