Thanksgiving Travel Latest: TSA braces for 'busiest ever' holiday

The Thanksgiving travel rush is expected to be bigger than ever this year. AAA predicts that nearly 80 million people in the U.S. will venture at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home between Tuesday and next Monday.

Another round of wintry weather could complicate travel, though. California and Washington state continue to recover from damage and power outages from last week’s storms. And an ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers could cause flight delays at some airports.

Meanwhile, workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport began what was expected to be a 24-hour strike on Monday over their demands for higher wages. Only a handful of flights were canceled, and there were fewer than 100 delays.

Here's the latest:

Thanksgiving travelers are OK to bring turkey, stuffing and more through checkpoints, TSA says

Want to know what kinds of foods you can carry through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint? Here’s a list of some of the approved items:

Turkey? Yes.

Macaroni and cheese? Yes.

Gravy? Yes.

“Gravy and cranberry sauce need to be in 3.4-ounce quantities or less. And I would say, especially when it comes to gravy, I wouldn’t want that in my carry-on luggage,” TSA spokesperson Lorie Dankers said. “And I definitely wouldn’t want it in my checked baggage.”

Dankers said gravy is a prime example of a “make it at your destination” item. Stuffing is considered a solid and is OK to carry on. Pies are, too, but they require some extra scrutiny, Dankers said.

“Be prepared for that. You’ll be present for that,” she said. “But our officers are just making sure that nothing poses a security threat.”

Thanksgiving brings out infrequent travelers, and they often have questions about what they can bring on the plane. The TSA encourages them to download the agency’s smartphone app, which includes a “What can I bring” feature. TSA representatives also will be fielding questions on Facebook and X.

Officials are investigating two separate cases of physical contact between planes in Boston

Officials are investigating the incidents that took place at Boston Logan International Airport on Monday. Both happened at a slow rate of speed.

In the first one, the wingtips of a Frontier Airlines plane and an American Airlines plane touched while at the gate on Monday afternoon, Samanta Decker, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Port Authority, said Tuesday. There were no injuries, but the planes were deboarded and needed to be checked for damage, she said.

American Airlines said in a statement that the contact was made as its plane, which had arrived from London, was pulling into the gate. The other plane was stationary. It said there were no injuries.

“The aircraft has been removed from service for inspection by our maintenance team,” its statement said.

On Monday night, a tug vehicle towing an empty JetBlue plane struck a Cape Air plane. The two Cape Air pilots were taken to a hospital as a precaution, Decker said. The tug has been removed from service, and the JetBlue aircraft will undergo a thorough inspection, JetBlue said in a statement.

What the striking airport workers said

“We cannot live on the wages that we are being paid,” ABM cabin cleaner Priscilla Hoyle said at a rally Monday. “I can honestly say it’s hard every single day with my children, working a full-time job but having to look my kids in the eyes and sit there and say, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to have a home today.’”

Timothy Lowe II, a wheelchair attendant, said he has to figure out where to spend the night because he doesn’t make enough for a deposit on a home.

“We just want to be able to have everything that’s a necessity paid for by the job that hired us to do a great job so they can make billions,” he said.

ABM said it is “committed to addressing concerns swiftly” and that there are avenues for employees to communicate issues, including a national hotline and a “general open door policy for managers at our worksite.”

Tips to make holiday travel a bit easier

Travel can be stressful in the best of times. Now add in the high-level anxiety that seems to be baked into every holiday season and it’s clear travelers could use some help calming frazzled nerves.

Here are a few ways to make your holiday journey a little less stressful:

▶ Read more tips about staying grounded during holiday travel

Thanksgiving travel, by the numbers

▶ Read more about Thanksgiving travel across the U.S.

Forecasts warn of possible winter storms across US during Thanksgiving week

Another round of wintry weather could complicate travel leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, according to forecasts across the U.S., while California and Washington state continue to recover from storm damage and power outages.

In California, where two people were found dead in floodwaters on Saturday, authorities braced for more rain while grappling with flooding and small landslides from a previous storm.

Here’s a look at some of the regional forecasts:

▶ Read more about Thanksgiving week weather forecasts