Trip To Grandma’s Just A Little Cheaper This Year

November 22, 2012

That Thanksgiving trip to grandma’s house was just a few pennies cheaper this year, with gas prices down slightly.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in the Pensacola metro was $3.25 headed into the Thanksgiving weekend, down four cents from $3.29 a year ago and on a downward trend from $3.52 a month ago.

Around the North Escambia area, that gallon of gas averaged $3.21 in an informal survey. The lowest Escambia County price on Wednesday afternoon was $3.14 at a station on Airport Boulevard. The Florida state average was $3.37.

AAA projects 43.6 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, small increase  over the 43.3 million people who traveled last year. This increase marks the fourth consecutive year of growing holiday travelers since 2008 when Thanksgiving travel fell by 25 percent. The Thanksgiving holiday travel period is defined as Wednesday, November 21 to Sunday, November 25.

“Thanksgiving travel hit a decade low in 2008 when only 37.8 million Americans traveled,” said AAA President and CEO Robert Darbelnet. “Since that year we have seen a steady increase in the number of travelers taking to the roads and skies for the holiday. Americans continue to find ways to economize their budgets so they can gather around the holiday table to carve the turkey.”

“While we do not yet know the full impact that Hurricane Sandy will have on travel from the Mid-Atlantic region, we do know that the impact for many Americans in that region is substantial,” continued Darbelnet.

Approximately 90 percent of travelers or 39.1 million people plan to travel by automobile this Thanksgiving. This is a 0.6 percent increase over the 38.9 million people who traveled by auto last year.  Air travel is expected to decrease 1.7 percent as 3.14 million holiday travelers will take to the skies.

Those traveling by air will find lower airfares according to AAA’s Leisure travel Index.  For the Thanksgiving holiday the average lowest round-trip rate is $188 for the top 40 U.S. air routes, an 11 percent decrease from last year. Approximately 1.3 million travelers will choose other modes of transportation, including rail, bus and cruise ship.

NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

4 Responses to “Trip To Grandma’s Just A Little Cheaper This Year”

  1. john on November 22nd, 2012 7:55 pm

    Funny that gas was $3.14 Tuesday morning and went up to $3.29 by that afternoon just saying

  2. David Huie Green on November 22nd, 2012 7:12 pm

    REGARDING:
    “if we all drove cars that had better fuel economy that would help too”

    Or only drove when necessary and arranged our drives to get all the good out of each one so as to not need extras. (If your car gets a hundred miles per gallon but you drive a thousand miles, you use as much gas as if your car only gets ten miles per gallon but you only drive a hundred miles.)

    David for good personal decisions

  3. B on November 22nd, 2012 5:07 pm

    Gas Last week was 2.99 in Pace, but never got lowered then 3,16 here in pensacola… Only thing I can think is,Because the new race-way opened on the corner of 90 and they all dropped for raceway’s price..

  4. James Broel on November 22nd, 2012 3:47 pm

    I’m glad gas didn’t go up after the election…in fact since the election it’s gone down for now. But I’m sure it’s related to supply and demand…if we all drove cars that had better fuel economy that would help too. Happy Thanksgiving y’all!!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News