Early On, Holiday Travel Going Smoothly

Gas, airfare up 20% from a year ago

(NEWSER) - Tens of millions of Americans are now on the move for Thanksgiving, but the soaring cost of travel is keeping many others at home. Some 42.5 million Americans are expected to drive, fly, or ride trains over the holiday, and gas prices are up almost 20% from last year, according to AAA, as is the cost of a round-trip plane ticket on the top 40 US routes. Most Amtrak fares are also up from a year ago, but only by 2% to 5%. More»

Orbitz issues its annual ranking

(NEWSER) - The City of Angels is expected to have quite the hellish airport this Thanksgiving holiday. According to an annual ranking by Orbitz, LAX will top Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as the nation's busiest this holiday weekend, from Nov. 23 to Nov. 27. Filling out the top five (in order) are Orlando International, San Francisco International, and Boston's Logan International airports. Orbitz calculates its ranking by adding up tickets sales for the country's 50 major airports, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

With demand lower, airlines are offering fewer seats

(NEWSER) - The good news for Thanksgiving travelers is that fewer people are expected to fly this year. The bad news is that your plane is still going to be jam-packed. An industry trade group predicts that 23.2 million people will fly in the 12 days around Thanksgiving, reports CNN . (The holiday period is defined as the 18th to the 29th.) That's down 2% from last year and amounts to about 37,000 fewer fliers per day. More»

(NEWSER) - Even as the financial crisis rages, Ben Bernanke says it’s time for broad regulatory reforms to stem future crises. Bernanke said today “too big to fail” institutions should be more tightly watched, perhaps by his Federal Reserve. He also admitted that the US hadn’t been prudent with the glut of capital that poured into the market in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Pawn shops are turning from the shady realm of the lower class to a place for rich people to get loans, the Wall Street Journal reports. The typical household income of a pawn shop customer is $29,000, but new middle- and upper-class clients are surging. One such client pawned a $9,000 fur coat to buy private-school uniforms. Some pawn shop owners are reporting 30%-40% increases in transactions. More»