Recipe for Thanksgiving Travel: Start Early, Skip the Drinks

Hey, loosen up.

That molasses-like traffic you’re going to hit, those switchback lines at the airport and the gas station, courtesy of Thanksgiving Day--they’re not so bad.

Don’t sneer. This is actually what the Automobile Club of Southern California and Los Angeles International Airport types are saying.

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” said Thomas Winfrey, an LAX spokesman. “That Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day--that’s an urban legend. We actually transport more people in August and September, per day.”

In the air and on the roads, Christmas is by far the busiest travel time nationally, and the Fourth of July comes next, usually followed by Labor Day, Auto Club numbers show.

Feel better? Good.

Now, keep in mind that, despite these statistics, traffic this Thanksgiving season is going to be bad, very bad--worse, experts predict, than it was this time last year and the year before. So leave early, plan ahead and get some sleep before you drive.

“Last year, we had double the number of fatalities during Christmas over the previous year, and we couldn’t figure out why,” said Nanci Kramer of the California Highway Patrol. Because Christmas was on a Saturday, she said, many families squeezed holiday activities into the weekend, and ended up exhausted. “We attributed the deaths to sleepy drivers.”

Last year during Thanksgiving, 43 people in California died in collisions, many because of fatigue, Kramer said.

Today through Sunday, more than one in 10 of all the men, women and children in the nation--that’s 38.9 million--will probably travel more than 100 miles from home, said Carol Thorp of the Auto Club.

“The biggest [driving] mistake people make is, they leave too late,” she said. “Then they get caught in maximum traffic, which used to be 2 or 3 p.m. Wednesday.”

Thorp said, “Pretty soon [rush hour] is going to start Tuesday evening.”

Not funny, Carol.

But she’s right. All those car-pool lane-hoggers and frequent-flier junkies--up 4% percent over last year--will head out, even though gas prices are up 43 cents per gallon and air fares up 13% over this time last year.

Those numbers add up when you have a 100-gallon gas tank, as do Jean and Daniel Darmody of Pacifica, a coastal town south of San Francisco. The couple, who were on their way Tuesday to Yucaipa to visit family, stopped in the Santa Clarita Valley to refuel their new Allegro Bay recreational vehicle.

“The last time we left on Wednesday and drove back Sunday, it was bumper to bumper all the way and I vowed never to drive this holiday weekend again,” Jean Darmody said. “We actually had reservations to fly, but when we got this [new RV], we decided to go this way.”

At Costa Mesa’s John Wayne Airport, travel today is expected to jump 20%--to 27,120 travelers--over a normal Wednesday, said airport spokeswoman Ann McCarley. The only day that may top that is Sunday, when those people come home.

Authorities are thinking up new ways to make movement easier.

LAX officials Tuesday evening offered airport food discounts and one-day free parking to the first 1,000 drivers who parked in two lots a short distance from the airport.

“We really recommend you have someone drop you off,” Winfrey said. “We need to encourage people to move away from parking at the central terminal. Here’s another reason: It now costs $24 a day.”

People park in those pricey lots because they’re running late. Which brings us to a few ingenious tips, courtesy of the CHP--to grease the wheels on your trip.

* Leave early. Please, just do it.

* Let your wife or girlfriend drive a teeny tiny bit. (Loosely translated from CHP-speak: “Share driving duties.”)

* If you’re driving home Thursday night, skip that after-dinner cocktail.

* Wear a seat belt. The CHP estimates that half of those who die in car accidents would live if they were wearing seat belts.

Times staff writers Karima A. Haynes and correspondents Carol Chambers and Alex Katz contributed to this story.

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Turkey Trot and Other Travels

Millions of Southern Californians are expected to leave town this weekend. National figures for air and road trips during four major holiday weekends:

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Note: A trip is defined as leisure travel of 100 miles or more from home per person, anytime during the weekend.

Source: AAA