The Enduring Need For Planes, Trains And Automobiles At Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S. on Thursday (November 23, 2023) – a time for many Americans to embrace family, give thanks and come together around the festive table for a turkey dinner to mark the holiday.

In order to get to their family or celebratory destination during what’s considered to peak seasonal travel time, many use ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles‘ though not necessarily in that order or at once or with such hilarity, incredulity and disastrous results as the plot of the comedy film by the same name brilliantly written, produced and directed by the late filmmaker John Hughes.

Unquestionably, the strong desire to be with family and loved ones on Thanksgiving is as powerful as the need to make meticulous and affordable plans to get to your destination with minimum stress, and let’s face it – become a bit of a petrolhead! Often that’s wishful thinking – weather, transport delays, cancellations, traffic jams and you name it may get in the way!

Hughes’ film and cast brilliantly encapsulated this, thereby making the viewing of Planes, Trains and Automobiles somewhat of a Thanksgiving tradition ever since it was released in 1987. If you are among those who (still) haven’t seen the film, your correspondent is not telling you much and would highly that recommend you see it.

The plot revolves around the holiday travel misadventures of Neal Page (played by Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (played by the late John Candy). The high flying advertising executive Neal needs to get home for his family’s Thanksgiving dinner, and ends up becoming an unwilling travel companion of Del, a chatty and good-hearted but often annoying shower curtain ring salesman.

The high-flyer and the salesman who’s “still a million bucks shy of being a millionaire” subsequently embark on a three-day zany journey to get Neal home when their flight from New York to Chicago is diverted to Wichita due to a blizzard in Illinois.

What follows is full of heart, humor, mood swings, human imperfections and yes, love, when it comes to navigating an important but arduous journey and the people in it. We all need plenty of that when networks, newspapers and websites are flooded with stories about travel and Thanksgiving every year.

And since the 2023 season is underway, Americans well might be in for their least expensive Thanksgiving since the Covid pandemic in 2020 when it comes to transportation.

Let’s talk planes – while international airfares to/from the U.S. appear up by 1-2% marginally on trawls through Hopper, Kayak and Expedia (U.S.), domestic flights booked for Thanksgiving in early October for travel this week were down by an average of 8.5% versus last year. NerdWallet found even deeper discount rates on a much wider pool of research data compared to yours truly’s cursory attempts. Looks like all that additional capacity on domestic flights is bearing fruit.

So here’s hoping you got a great flight deal to get where you want to be and a co-passenger who doesn’t offer Del’s quip of “6 bucks and my left nut says we’re not landing in Chicago” should you encounter a weather system, and especially if you are going to Chicago.

Speaking of trains, Amtrak also offered up the odd flash sale in the run up to Thanksgiving across its network, and especially on the “Auto Train” where you can park your car on the train and hop in to a comfy seat between Florida and Washington D.C. And there are some first class deals on hand too so you don’t have to echo Del’s sentiments at the end of a tough one: “Next time, let’s go first class, alright.”

And finally, there’s automobiles and there’s good news there too. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline was about $3.31 on Monday (November 20, 2023). That’s 25 cents cheaper than a month ago and 36 cents below average price in the same period in 2022.

From its collection sample of regular gasoline rates at the pump, the U.S. Energy Information Agency found average prices of $3.29 per gallon in the week to November 20; down 6 cents on the week before and yes, 36 cents on the prices recorded in the same week a year ago.

And if near-term trends are your thing, then fuel prices have fallen for nine straight weeks and recording the longest downward correction since the first half of 2022, according to energy industry colleague Patrick de Haan, an analyst with GasBuddy.

The AAA also estimates that 55.4 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over the Thanksgiving holiday travel period from November 22 to November 26. This year’s forecast is an increase of 2.3% over last year and marks the third-highest Thanksgiving projection since AAA began tracking holiday travel in 2000. The top two years were 2005 and 2019, respectively.

“For many Americans, Thanksgiving and travel go hand in hand, and this holiday, we expect more people on the roads, skies, and seas compared to 2022,” said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel. “Travel demand has been strong all year, and AAA’s Thanksgiving forecast reflects that continued desire to get away and spend time with loved ones.”

Well there you have it, and well noted Paula. So here’s hoping that you, if needed, at least have an automobile – quite unlike the one Neal and Del are pictured in this humble article’s masthead – that may be “not pretty, but… it’ll get you where you want to go.“

And whether you use a plane, a train or an automobile, or merely walk a few miles to get to where you want to be for the holiday – here’s wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!