Newlywed Courtney Penhale waits for news about her and her husband Matt's flight to Bangkok at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Despite plummeting gas prices and unusual last-minute holiday deals on airplane tickets, more people are expected to stick close to home this Thanksgiving. -- PHOTO: AP
CHICAGO - DESPITE plummetting gas prices and unusual last-minute holiday deals on airplane tickets, more Americans are expected to stick close to home this Thanksgiving.
For stores, holiday season may be over
NEW YORK - THE holiday shopping season begins on Friday with a blitz of early morning specials. For some US merchants, though, it's practically over already.
Piles of jewellery, clothing and electric drills are bypassing store shelves and heading straight to liquidators by the caseload as stores try to save as much cash as they can.
Nationally, the Automobile Association of America says 41 million Americans were expected to travel more than 80km for the holiday, down about 1.5 per cent or 600,000 people from last Thanksgiving.
Of those, about 4.5 million are expected to fly, down about 7 per cent from last year, while around 33.2 million will drive, a decrease of about 1 per cent.
It is the first decrease in holiday travel nationally since 2002, and the largest since the Thanksgiving that followed the terror attacks on Sept 11, 2001.
The reason, as a surly economist might say? It's the economy, stupid.
'The economy is in such bad shape. ... They're still really hesitant to take that trip,; said Ms Beth Mosher, spokesman for AAA Chicago.
For airlines, the lowered fares at a time when they usually can mark them up can't combat the extra fees the struggling industry has tacked on to everything from checked baggage to pillows to in-flight food.
In Boston's Logan International Airport, the crowds at check-in counters and security lines were uncharacteristically sparse.
Mr Andres Rivadeneira, 18, an international student at Bentley University, said he arrived for his flight to Miami three hours early.
But with few crowds to wade through, he had time to relax and eat breakfast with other Bentley students.
'It was less hectic than I expected,' he said, although he added than his ticket was more expensive than usual.
Security lines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were also short. Spokesman John Kennedy predicted their Thanksgiving travel numbers will go up slightly to 1.67 million from 1.65 million last Thanksgiving holiday.
Mr Graeme Wallace, chief technical officer for farecompare.com, a consumer airline ticket research website, said it may take until after the first of the year before airlines know if the recent fare reductions will put many more people on planes. He said in his recent experience, business flights have been crowded but leisure flights are often half empty.
'With the economy tanking, they're thinking, 'Do I want to spend US$400(S$604) for a 1,200 mile trip?'' Wallace said. -- AP
