How Much Thanksgiving Travel Could Cost If You Skip the Flight This Year
“Over the river and through the woods” probably was not how you pictured getting to Grandma’s house this Thanksgiving, but plenty of travelers are rethinking how they get around. With Federal Aviation Administration–directed flight cuts still in place, many people are looking beyond airports and considering buses, trains, rental RVs, and old fashioned road trips. The result is a holiday travel season where flying is not always the default, even for long distances.
On November 12, the FAA said it would keep flight reductions at 6% instead of moving ahead with a planned increase to 10% at 40 major U.S. airports. Air traffic controller callouts have started to ease as lawmakers moved to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, but the system is still under strain. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stressed that safety comes first and said the agency will only move back to normal operations when the data shows it is safe to do so. Until then, passengers can expect more schedule shuffling and a busy mix of people in cars, buses, and trains trying to reach their holiday gatherings.
FAA Cuts Keep Pressure on Thanksgiving Flyers
Even with the shutdown winding down, the FAA has not rushed to restore full capacity. Instead, the agency decided to hold flight reductions steady at 6% across 40 large airports. Officials say the move reflects a drop in air traffic controller sick calls, but they want more time to be sure the trend holds.
Duffy emphasized that the FAA’s safety team will drive the timeline. If they see callouts and staffing levels continuing to improve, they will lay out a plan to bring schedules back to normal. That cautious approach means travelers heading out the weekend before Thanksgiving may still run into cancellations and delays tied directly to the reduced schedule. For many people, that uncertainty is reason enough to look at other ways to travel, especially on routes that can be driven in a day or done overnight by bus or train.
Buses, Trains, and RVs See a Bump in Demand
As mass flight cancellations rolled out starting November 7, major bus and train operators began reporting noticeable jumps in demand. More travelers suddenly decided that a long bus ride or overnight train was better than risking a last minute flight cancellation.
Road travel is getting a boost in other ways, too. Jen Young, cofounder of RV rental platform Outdoorsy, said the company has seen bookings climb 12% for October and November. She ties that directly to airport chaos and a broader shift toward road trips. In her view, travelers increasingly like having control over their own schedule and enjoy the idea of turning the journey into part of the vacation.
Young also points out that more than 1 in 5 Americans typically travel between 50 and 500 miles for Thanksgiving, and about 70% stay within 50 miles of home. For many of those trips, driving or taking an RV makes sense even in a normal year. Outdoorsy rentals can start around $75 per night, with the bonus that you are sleeping in your transportation instead of paying for separate lodging.
To see what skipping the airport actually costs, USA TODAY compared sample routes across buses, trains, cars, and planes. The prices below were pulled on November 12 for one way trips on November 26, the day before Thanksgiving. In each example, bus and train options cost travelers more in both time and money than the cheapest flights.
Cleveland to New York: Time vs. Money
For travelers going from Cleveland to New York, buses and trains can get you there, but you will pay for it in both dollars and hours.
Greyhound’s least expensive ticket came in just under $130, but that bargain price meant nearly 18 hours and 40 minutes on the road with a transfer in Washington, D.C. A faster, direct Greyhound route dropped the travel time to just under 11.5 hours, but the ticket price jumped to about $161.
Amtrak’s most direct and cheapest route between the two cities was even more expensive, at $188, and still took nearly 13 hours. By comparison, driving the route yourself would take a little under 8 hours, according to Google Maps, on a highway path that includes tolls.
Flights told a very different story. The least expensive option was a $72 ticket on Frontier, as listed on Google Flights, with a total travel time of just over 6 hours including a transfer in Orlando. Travelers who preferred to skip the connection could book a nonstop United flight for $139, arriving in New York in about an hour and a half.
New Orleans to Chicago: Long Hauls by Land
The route from New Orleans to Chicago shows a similar pattern, with bus and train riders sacrificing both time and comfort.
Greyhound’s fastest itinerary cost just under $179 and took almost 20 hours, with a transfer in Memphis along the way. The rock bottom fare was only about $1.50 cheaper, but that tiny savings cost passengers nearly 30 hours of travel time and required two transfers.
Amtrak’s best option came in at $180 and took about 19.5 hours, putting it roughly in line with the faster bus trip in terms of timing and slightly higher in price than the cheapest coach seat.
Driving from New Orleans to Chicago would take about 13 hours and 40 minutes, according to Google Maps. For families willing to split the driving and stop once or twice, the road trip may feel more appealing than spending nearly a full day in a bus or train seat.
On the flight side, the lowest fare was $75, though it came with a big catch. That itinerary required a self transfer in Denver between Spirit and Frontier and stretched to more than 30 hours of total travel time, essentially turning the journey into an odyssey. Travelers willing to pay more could book a nonstop Spirit flight for $149 and arrive in roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes, a much more realistic choice for a holiday weekend.
San Francisco to Las Vegas: Short Flight, Long Everything Else
The San Francisco to Las Vegas corridor is a classic weekend getaway route, and the numbers make it easy to see why most people still fly.
On Greyhound, the least expensive ticket cost $185 and took nearly 24 hours with two transfers, one in Sacramento and another in Los Angeles. The fastest bus option, with a single transfer in Los Angeles, shaved the journey down to just over 15 hours but pushed the price up to $230. That is a long time to spend on the road for a trip that many people treat as a quick escape.
Amtrak’s most direct option cost $149 and took just under 13 hours, which is better than the slowest bus routes but still more than half a day of travel. Driving the route yourself would take about 9 hours, according to Google Maps, making the car a more flexible choice for travelers who want to control their departure time and make scenic stops along the way.
Flying, once again, was dramatically faster. The cheapest direct flight was a Frontier ticket priced at $112, with a scheduled flight time of 1 hour and 40 minutes, according to Google Flights. Even accounting for security lines and airport waits, that is still far shorter than any bus, train, or car option, which explains why so many seats on this route fill up around major holidays.
Is Skipping the Flight Worth It?
When you stack up the numbers, one theme is hard to ignore. If you are trying to save money or time on long distance Thanksgiving travel, flying usually still wins, even in a year with FAA directed cuts and lingering cancellations. On the Cleveland, New Orleans, and San Francisco sample routes, the cheapest plane tickets were often significantly less expensive than bus or train fares, and they cut travel times by half or more.
That does not mean alternative modes are off the table. Road trips and RV rentals give travelers more flexibility, more control over their environment, and a built in sense of adventure that no middle seat can match. Buses and trains can make sense for people who are nervous about flying or who are traveling on routes where air service is limited.
But for most long distance Thanksgiving trips, especially between major cities, flying remains the most efficient option. The challenge in 2025 is not so much the cost of a ticket as the unpredictability of the schedule. With flight reductions still in place and the system slowly recovering from a long shutdown, the smartest move for travelers may be to book early, keep a backup plan in mind, and decide how much extra time and stress they are willing to trade for a holiday seat in the sky.
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This article was written by Hunter and edited with AI Assistance
