A strong economy and low fares sent a record number of people traveling Wednesday, estimated to be the busiest travel day in Chicago history.
Chicago Aviation Department officials expected 277,000 flyers in and out of O’Hare International and Midway Airports Wednesday–34,000 of them through Midway–topping the record set Nov. 29, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Travel through Chicago’s airports for the holiday season also is expected to reach a record of 3.4 million passengers–about 360,000 through Midway–between Dec. 19 and New Year’s Day.
Few places are a greater testament to the confusion of holiday travel than O’Hare, where Star Price of Los Angeles awaited a connection to Minneapolis while his wife, Marissa Price, nursed 7-month-old fraternal twins.
“It’s hard enough traveling with kids, but doing it two days before Christmas is insane,” said Star, a television producer.
Driving is an option for those wary of airport crowds, but the highways have their own jams. The American Automobile Association expects this to be the busiest car travel holiday season ever, due in part to low gas prices.
More than 45 million people will travel by car during the Christmas-New Year’s period, up 2 percent from last year, said AAA-Chicago Motor Club spokeswoman Norma Cooper. Of those, about 5.6 million will be in the Great Lakes states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Cooper said the trend is not new this year, as more people have begun taking leisure vacations during the holidays. In the last decade, she said, travel during this time of year has increased 66 percent.
Amtrak expects an increase of up to 5 percent over the carrier’s average of about a million passengers each holiday season.