The Caribbean - Thanksgiving Weekend - Worst Time to Travel???

My husband and I are taking a trip to the BVI and have decided the extend our time there by a week. To do so, would require us to travel from Philadelphia on Thanksgiving or during the days that follow. We have made this trip numerous times in off peak times in December and peak times in Jan/Feb, but I've heard horror stories about the airports during the Thanksgiving period. Any suggestions on the better day to travel - Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday or is it just best to wait until Monday?

Airfare is very reasonable - about $250 pp, so I want to lock in soon. Last year we paid $1600 for the two of us to fly as I bought airfare at its peak - don't want to repeat the performance.

Any advice you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks!

The day before Thanksgiving is probably the worst day to fly. The next is Thanksgiving day. Friday is probably the better pick of the three. The Sunday and Monday will again be chaos because people will be trying to fly home on the Sunday and Monday.

We always fly to Aruba on Thanksgiving Day and have never had a problem. I think people who are headed home for the holiday have already left the day before so, for us, Thursday has always been a good day to travel.

I've traveled 2 years on Thanksgiving day, and had great success in minimizing delays, crowds and wait time. If you can, try to push your departure time as late on Thursday as you can. The really early flights will tend to be more full than the later in the day flights.

We travel over the Thanksgiving holiday every year.
The day before Thanksgiving is an absolute nightmare (unless your goal is to get bumped). The Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving are almost as bad as the day before -- I wouldn't recommend leaving or returning on either day.
We haven't had any airline problems Thanksgiving Day itself, or on the day after -- though getting a parking spot at the airport would be a challenge if we weren't "frequent parkers".

:D

Check out this thread about PHL airport - not specific to your travel plans, but a great guide of the airport in general. Have fun.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-airways-dividend-miles/958317-us-guide-phl-airport.html

Your biggest enemy will be the weather. I've enjoyed smooth travel the day before Thanksgiving. If you are booking a direct flight, you'll have less to worry about. What are you worried about, specifically? There will be other people at the airport and on your aircraft, some flights will be oversold, some luggage will be lost, some flights will depart and/or arrive late. All this will happen every day of the year. Most travelers will be unaffected. My biggest fear is paying too much for my ticket. Cross your fingers and go for it.