In fact, there’s going to be over 47 million people in the air over the holiday break. As always, busy hubs like Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Denver will be the busiest with New York topping the list. Airlines are going to have to be prepared for delays at these big hubs and accomodate passengers who have to endure them. Given the weather in the Midwest and Northeast over the past week, airlines are going to really be expecting delays at some point in the system and not fall back on their patterns of overscheduling, unless they want to further compound the problem.
Check out this BusinessWeek article about how the airlines plan to handle air travelers and which days will be the worst to fly.