Crew members along with travelers walk in the arrival terminal at Washington Dulles International Airport last Thursday.
Millions of Americans bought tickets to fly somewhere for Thanksgiving before the nation’s top public health agency pleaded with them not to travel for the holiday.
In many cases, they are still crowding airports and boarding planes.
That’s despite relatively lenient cancellation policies that major airlines have implemented since the coronavirus pandemic emerged earlier this year.
“Consumers should feel comfortable changing their plans and canceling their flights if they need to for health reasons,” said John Breyault of the National Consumers League.
Most airlines won’t pay cash to refund a flight to those who heed national health warnings but they are waiving fees and offering vouchers.
Breyault said to “familiarize yourself with the policies” because the specifics vary by airline and when the ticket was booked.
It’s not clear how many people are taking vouchers. Images this weekend of crowded airport terminals showed plenty of people are flying.
More than 2 million people were screened at airports on Friday and Saturday, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
While that’s far lower than the same period last year, Friday was only the second time since March daily screenings topped 1 million.
A day earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should skip Thanksgiving travel and not spend the holiday with people from outside their household.
For those still traveling, the TSA said it had prepared for higher traffic this week.
“We have been handling passenger volumes reaching more than 900,000 a day frequently since early October,” the agency said in a statement released on Sunday.
