CLEVELAND — It's that time of year again as millions of people pack the airports and roadways for their annual Thanksgiving travel -- and today is one of the busiest travel days of the entire year.
3News' Carmen Blackwell was at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport all morning, while Kaitor Kay was there during the afternoon and evening to check on the lines.
You can watch their reports throughout the videos below...
FLIGHT STATUS
While the airports are definitely busy with AAA saying an estimated 4.7 million people are flying to reach their Thanksgiving destination, the roadways are crowded, too, with 55.4 million travelers driving more than 50 miles from home.
People arriving at the airport Wednesday were welcomed by Destination Cleveland.
They had DJs blasting music as people landed and picked up baggage. Their reps handed out goodies and refreshments, such as chapstick, cookies, water, tourist maps, and thanksgiving-themed place mats with crayons for the kids.
"When they land here at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, we want to make sure that they're getting that sense of the wonderful people who are here in Cleveland," said spokeswoman Jen Brasdovich. "So, we're all about providing that warm Cleveland welcome when they get here, providing the resources that they need, and just making sure that they can have an authentic Cleveland experience when they're here, because we want them to be able to come back time and time again, and we want them to tell their friends and family about what a great time they had in Cleveland, so their friends and family will want to come and visit us too."
Destination Cleveland made sure to tell folks about the Winterland Tree Lighting Celebration happening at Public Square on Saturday night, so they know after filling up on Turkey on Thursday that there's plenty more to do around town through the weekend.
Here's how the lines are looking this afternoon...
4:00 p.m. update
5 p.m. update
6 p.m. update
Below you'll find a series of videos to show how the lines evolved throughout the morning...
6:30 a.m. update
6 a.m. update
5:30 a.m. update
5 a.m. update
"This year’s Thanksgiving forecast is an increase of 2.3% over last year and marks the third-highest Thanksgiving forecast since AAA began tracking holiday travel in 2000," according to AAA. "The top two years were 2005 and 2019, respectively."