Thanksgiving myth: The November holiday is consistently the worst time of the year for travel. Thanksgiving truth: It’s reputation is worse than the reality.
A closer look at the facts show that while traveling during the next five days isn’t a garden stroll, other times of year are much worse.
n Consider the widely held belief that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving or the Sunday after is the heaviest air travel day of the year.
It just isn’t so, at least at Sea-Tac Airport, says Sea-Tac spokesman Perry Cooper.
The busiest day of the coming holiday period is expected to be Sunday when the airport expects 89,250 passengers to use the airport’s ticket counters and gates. That’s nearly 11,000 passenger shy of just an average summer day at the airport. On the busiest summer days at Sea-Tac when business, cruise and vacation travel hit simultaneous peaks, traffic is nearly 22,000 passengers greater than the Sunday after Thanksgiving and nearly 23,000 more than the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
And Thanksgiving travel this year at Sea-Tac isn’t increasing over 2010. Airlines expect total passenger numbers to be flat this year compared with a year ago.
n Consider another widely-held misconception: Train seats are unavailable this close to Thanksgiving. That idea as of mid-day Monday was only partly true. “The key,” said Amtrak spokesman Mark Magliari, “is flexibility. “ A check with Amtrak shows several of the daily trains between Seattle and Portland and Eugene are indeed sold out, but seats remain available on other departures.
Credit that availability to Amtrak’s decision to add 11 additional trains in the Cascade Corridor during the Thanksgiving holiday to handle the load. Among those is a midnight express train from Seattle to Portland (unfortunately it doesn’t stop anywhere in between) that still has plenty of available seats and a bargain fare of $31 one-way. Of course, the schedule leaves something to be desired, but if you’re the kind to stay up late to catch the Black Friday bargains, consider this trip just a dress rehearsal. The train leaves at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday and arrives at 4:14 a.m. in Portland.
n While airlines have upped their fares for the holiday, the cost of driving hasn’t been as low in months. One Fife service station, for instance, was charging $3.35 a gallon for regular Monday according to Tacomagasprices.com. That’s 68 cents less a gallon than the average Tacoma price in late May this year. For a 500-mile driving trip that consumes 20 gallons of gas, that means a Thanksgiving trip will cost $13.60 less for gas than it did last spring.
n Traffic is an impossible snarl throughout the holidays. That’s another half-truth. Yes, holiday traffic will have times when walking might seem to be a quicker, according to the Washington Department of Transportation, but picking your times will yield a reasonably clear highway. The key is thinking rush hours. That’s the time during the holiday, the usual morning and evening weekday rush hours, when traffic on Interstate 5 is likely to be far below the norm. Take Wednesday, for instance, on the Tacoma-to-Olympia stretch of highway. The DOT predicts heavy traffic from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. But in the period from 5 a.m. until a little after 9 a.m., the traffic is expected to be far below the norm.
That same rule applies on Thanksgiving Day. Expect light traffic in the morning and then again during the mid-afternoon meal hours.
Consider alternate routes. I-5 isn’t the only way to move north or south. It’s possible to drive all the way to Portland from Tacoma without putting a wheel on the freeway. The alternate route through Roy, Tenino, Winlock and Vader to Longview where you cross into Oregon over the Columbia is longer but likely less congested and tedious than the freeway route.
If your trip includes a ride on a Washington State ferry, count on a considerable wait unless you arrive early or late in the day during the holiday period.
The longest lines to catch a ferry are expected westbound Wednesday afternoon and evening and eastbound Friday morning.
The Point Defiance-Tahlequah, Seattle-Bainbridge Island, and Mukilteo-Clinton routes will be on a holiday schedule on Thanksgiving Day. Schedules are available online and at terminals and vessels. All other routes will be on their regular weekday schedule.
n If the spectre of the security lines at Sea-Tac give you indigestion, consider an alternate airport. SeaPort Airlines flies to Portland from bucolic Boeing Field as does Kenmore Air to the San Juans and Port Angeles.
n Remember that Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada in October. If you’re looking for a Thanksgiving destination where the hotels won’t be overcrowded, consider Vancouver, B.C., or Victoria. It’s just an ordinary week there.
n If the accommodations you have to make to take the angst out of holiday travel are still overwhelming, consider making one major adjustment. Reschedule Thanksgiving. If you and your relatives can agree, consider resetting your personal Thanksgiving Day next week. Airfares typically are at a seasonal low between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Airports and highways are uncrowded. And even if the pass is blocked, (the forecast calls for tough conditions on the passes this week) you can find a seat on Amtrak’s Empire Builder headed east from the Puget Sound area. That train passes beneath the mountains in America’s longest railroad tunnel, the 8-mile-long Cascade tunnel. While tickets aren’t available for that scenic trip before Thanksgiving, they’re plentiful after the holiday.
John Gillie: 253-597-8663 john.gillie@thenewstribune.com
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