In most years, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day at U.S. airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration, which tracks the number of passengers screened daily. The two days after Christmas also see heavy travel.

In the United States, the single busiest travel week of the year is always the week of Thanksgiving, specifically the period from the Wednesday before to the Sunday after the holiday. In 2026, Thanksgiving falls on November 26, making Wednesday, Nov 25 and Sunday, Nov 29 the most congested days at airports and on highways. During this window, the TSA regularly screens over 2.8 to 3 million passengers per day, often breaking all-time records. Other major peak travel weeks include the week between Christmas and New Year's Day and the "Spring Break" weeks in mid-to-late March, when family travel to Florida and the Caribbean spikes. For summer travel, the weeks surrounding July 4th and the "Friday before Memorial Day" are the busiest. If you want to avoid massive crowds and peak "surge pricing," travel experts recommend flying on the actual holiday itself (e.g., Thanksgiving morning or Christmas Day), which is notoriously quiet and often features the lowest ticket prices of the entire week.