I have never flown over the holidays and want to minimize airport hassles. I need to make a round trip from Hartford to Tucson the week after Thanksgiving and have heard that a Saturday overnight will reduce the cost of airfare.

With that in mind, I am considering flying out the morning of Sat, Nov. 24 and returning to Hartford on Fri., Nov. 29 or possibly Sat. the 30.

Should these dates work out for me as far as airport crowding goes? And, should I avoid booking the 30th to avoid the chance of a last-minute flight cancellation due to the airline's pilots being grounded because they reached their "air hour" maximums for the month?

thank you.

I've flown on holidays, including Thanksgiving, and those are pretty good times to fly because most folks don't want to fly the exact day. IN your case, that Sat. is probably a good idea as most people will want to be traveling back on the Sunday. As far as the cost, though, whatever you've heard is irrelevant, just check the fares of the airlines you want for the dates you want and see what they are -- some may have a cheaper fare if you have a Sat overnight and some do not. I fly Southwest a lot (including to Hartford) and their fare structure makes that irrelevant, as they don't price it based on the RT days or even being roundtrip. That's one reason I like them.

I don't know about your last question.

First off, the peak days, as far as crowds, for "Thanksgiving" travel will be Wednesday, November 21 and Sunday, November 25. The next busiest days will be Tuesday, November 20 and Monday, November 26. The least busiest day in that period will be Thangsgiving Day itself.


Saturday, November 24; Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30 will, in all likelihood, be normal travel days with the usual number of travellers. I doubt you'd find any difference in crowds and "airport hassles" no matter whether you fly on Friday or Saturday. These days, airports are almost always going to be crowded because airlines have been cutting back on the number of flights they offer so planes are usually full and flights tend to arrive and depart all around the same time adding to the congestion. Quite honestly, unless you want to fly on Thanksgiving Day you won't really be able to avoid crowds - it's just a fact of life in today's air travel world.

I wouldn't worry about trying to schedule your flight around the pilot's "air hour maximums" - that has nothing to do with the day of the week or month. While pilots can only fly a certain amount of hours each month the airlines have enough pilots and sophisticated scheduling programs so that there are a sufficient number of pilots who have available flight hours on any given day of the week. Of course, there's always a possibility that flight delays due to weather or mechanical problems could mean a particular flight crew has reached is "maximum" for that particular day but that can happen on any day of the month.

Saturday of Thanksgiving week will be very very busy. I flown out of O'Hare, LaGuardia, and Charlotte and all three airports were insanely packed.

Saturday Nov 24 will be very busy, though not as bad as Sunday Nov 25, which is THE most busy travel day in the year.

Nowadays, Saturday night stay over may not give you a lower fare. Right now, I see about $430 on AA for BDL-TUS whether it is 11/24-12/1 or 11/26-12/1 without a Saturday night stay.

if you're also worried about cost, make sure to search using one of the comparison sites like www.sidestep.com and use the matrix feature.

You might also try using the month-long feature at www.itasoftware.com

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies. It looks like, at least on a relative basis, the Saturday after the holiday is my best bet.

Two Thanksgivings ago I flew to Detroit to be with my college roommate and her family. I flew Thanksgiving AM on Northwest and it was packed. I flew back that Saturday and it was still packed. So be prepared. I don't think there is anyway to avoid crowds. I would advise nonstop only for the least hassle.

Have a look at Southwest...especially if your dates are flexible.

They are having a special if you book by August 23rd and fly on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday.