Oregon Public Broadcasting

Fewer planes, more trains and automobiles. That’s the Thanksgiving travel forecast from the American Automobile Association.

AAA expects fewer people will fly to grandmother’s house this holiday week, while more people will drive or hop a bus or train. Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

Nationally AAA expects 41 million Americans will travel for Thanksgiving. That’s down a touch over last year. But most of the drop is in air travel.

The number of people driving, hopping Greyhound or riding Amtrak is expected to go up.

Janet Ray is with AAA in Washington State. She says the fact gas prices have dropped more than two dollars a gallon from their peak is a key factor.

Janet Ray: “So as we get closer to the holiday we’re really anticipating that we’re going to look at a much more typical travel time – especially people driving – than we might have anticipated six weeks ago.”

That’s when AAA conducted its national survey.

Ray says the down economy is weighing on people’s travel decisions. But overhaul survey respondents said higher travel costs don’t outweigh the benefit of being with family and friends during the holidays.