10 busiest airports for Thanksgiving— and quieter alternatives

Ready to reunite with your lovely family and carve that turkey, trim that tree? Not so fast. You’ll have to navigate big crowds and a hectic airport first. Here we rank the busiest—and least busy—airports over the Thanksgiving holiday, based on flight bookings data from Orbitz.com. Some of the results might surprise you. And be sure to get a look at the quieter airports; some could serve as less crowded, less expensive alternatives to the more maddening ones.

Busiest & Least Busy Airports

While LAX, Chicago’s O’Hare or JFK in New York again rank as the busiest airports for Thanksgiving, two newcomers made the busiest list this year, notes Jeanenne Tornatore, senior travel editor for Orbitz.com. “Thankfully, there are also a number of new additions to the Least Busy Airports list, with several offering alternative options to large metro areas.”

The Orbitz Insider Index analyzes booking data from the top 50 U.S. airports over the Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 26 – Dec. 1, 2014) and gives travelers some baseline guidance on where they can expect the largest and smallest crowds this year. While New York’s LaGuardia Airport fell out of the top 10 busiest list this year, John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City joinsthe list, taking the spot below LAX and O’Hare. Denver, a popular holiday ski destination, drops off the busiest list this year, falling to the number 11 spot.

Orbitz also provides a list of less crowded alternative airports for travelers looking to avoid the zoo at the airports. This year’s list is made up almost entirely of newcomers – John Wayne Airport in Orange County and Syracuse Hancock International in Syracuse, N.Y. are the only returning airports on the list. Opting forthese less busy airports can mean saving time over the busy travel holiday, and arriving less haggard.

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Tagged: California, Midwest, New York, Top 10 Lists