Thanksgiving travel is almost here — here's what to expect

Northern California’s historic Gold Country is booming—for the second time. This string of former mining towns in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada burst onto the scene in 1848 during the fabled gold rush.

The top U.S. airlines and airports improved upon their Thanksgiving on-time performance this year compared to 2022.According to the latest analysis from leading global travel data provider OAG, the on-time performance of major U.S. airlines improved by one percentage point over last year's holiday, reaching 85.7 percent.OAG examined the on-time performance of all airports and airlines on Thanksgiving Eve (November 22), which is one of the busiest travel days of the year. In 2023, airlines and airports overcame not only crowds but weather disruptions to improve upon last year.According to OAG, nearly 18,400 flights arrived on time—within 15 minutes of the scheduled time—among the major U.S. carriers on November 22. Two airlines—Delta Air Lines (91.5 percent) and United Airlines (90.5 percent)—even achieved over 90 percent on-time performance across their domestic networks.Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines also saw improvements over last year, with on-time performance rates of 89.4 percent and 89.3 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, fifth-ranked Southwest Airlines reported a dip from 88.5 percent in 2022 to 86.9 percent in 2023.American Airlines (84.4 percent), Allegiant Air (84.2 percent), Frontier Airlines (76.2 percent) and Breeze Airways (62.3 percent) all improved upon last year while Sun Country Airlines (84.8 percent), JetBlue (64.8 percent), Spirit Airlines (61.7 percent) and Cape Air (33 percent) all lost ground compared to Thanksgiving Eve 2022.

A sweeping storm system is impacting much of the United States on this, the final day of the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel weekend. Nearly 14 million people found themselves under various winter weather alerts on Sunday, according to The New York Times.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) estimated that this Thanksgiving holiday would be a whopper.

TravelCar was launched in 2012 and is already operating in 60 countries. The company offers 3 different service: Paid Parking, Free Parking and Car rental.

Nearly 14 million people were under various winter weather alerts on Sunday as a post-Thanksgiving snowstorm moved over the Rockies and Central Plains and travelers trekked home after the holiday, forecasters said.

Authorities suspended international flights at one airport and closed four bridges between the U.S. and Canada in the Niagara Falls area following an incident where a vehicle crashed and exploded on impact on the Rainbow Bridge.

Like millions of other Americans, I grew up watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV at home in Montana.

Gas prices are plunging as record crowds hit the skies and the roads for Thanksgiving. According to AAA, the national average for the price of a gallon of gas is now down to $3.28. The price in August hit $3.87 a gallon.

Severe weather moving across the eastern half of the United States on Tuesday appeared likely to disrupt the busiest travel period of the year, with more than 55 million people expected to travel by bus, train or plane before the Thanksgiving holiday.

WHY IT RATES: The U.S. Travel Association is honoring some of the most influential people in the industry.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.

This will be my 26th Thanksgiving abroad.