Holiday travelers see fewer flights

— -- Airlines will offer almost 3,000 fewer domestic flights a day during the Thanksgiving season, promising fewer choices, fuller planes and higher fares for millions of Americans.

Compared with last Thanksgiving season, there will be 11% fewer flights — 2.6 million fewer seats — on non-stop domestic routes from Nov. 20, the Thursday before Thanksgiving, through Nov. 30, the Sunday afterward.

Hundreds of those routes have lost a quarter or more of the flights they had last Thanksgiving, according to a USA TODAY analysis of flight schedules that airlines filed with OAG-Official Airline Guide. OAG provides trip planning and booking tools for travelers.

Cost cuts airlines made to cover high fuel prices eliminated many routes and flights after Labor Day. Scarce seats got pricier.

The busy Thanksgiving season will be many travelers' first encounter with the slimmed-down schedules. The effect of fewer flights and full planes will make it harder for fliers to recover from delays, missed connections and canceled flights.

"Most of that's coming out in the afternoon, when people are eating turkey," US Airways spokesman Jim Olson says.

On many routes that lost a chunk of service, one or more carriers stopped flying between those cities because the service is no longer profitable.