AAA: Worst Travel Delays Expected Thursday, The Day After Christmas

DENVER (CBS4) - A record number of people are expected to travel this holiday season, with the biggest rush anticipated the day after Christmas. AAA Colorado predicts more than 1.96 Coloradans will travel between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1.

That represents Colorado's highest year-end travel volume on record since AAA tracking began in 2000, and an increase of more than four percent over 2018. Motorists should expect the worst delays on the day after Christmas, with travel times potentially doubled.

"So we are looking right now at the busiest year end travel period that AAA has ever recorded," said Skyler McKinley, Director of Public Relations and Government Affairs at AAA Colorado. "Nationwide, we know about 104.8 million Americans are traveling by car. In Colorado, just Coloradans alone, it's about 1.8 million, not to mention traveling to and through our state by car."

AAA predicts nearly 120,000 Coloradans will travel by air for the holidays, with 6.97 million Americans taking to the skies in total – the most since 2003.

"The end of the year wraps up a decade of historic growth for Colorado, and many Coloradans are taking the news in stride, marking the eighth straight year of successive record-high travel volumes for the year-end holidays," said McKinley. "We're lucky to enjoy historically low unemployment and meaningful year-over-year improvements in disposable income and household net worth, and folks are celebrating by hitting the roads and taking to the skies."

Christmas Eve is the best day to travel by air, with the lowest average price per ticket ($527) and the fewest crowds of the holiday week. Many travelers opt to fly after the Christmas holiday leading up to New Year's, and they pay a premium to do so. Dec. 26 has the highest average ticket price of the week at $692.

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