martha: president biden keeping jerome powell in place as his administration deals with a 6% inflation strike. an issue 45% of voters say is their number 1 economic concern. we ve seen these polls about what you care about and inflation haas been at the top of them. gas, $3.41 a gallon average now, a huge jump, 60% from last year. the president is now figuring out whether he will tap into the strategic petroleum reserve to bring down costs. we may hear something about that tomorrow. the reporting on that has been circulating today. fox business anchor david asman joins me now. let s tick through these if we can. first of all, leaving jerome powell, who was president trump s pick in place. i want to play a quick sound
reporter: the tsa says more than 2 million people passed through airport checkpoints saturday. the number of flyers close to pre-pandemic levels. those lines are going to take longer. add to that lingering staffing shortages and you have a recipe for long lines and delays. reporter: the vaccination mandate for federal workers taking effect tomorrow, sparking fears of airline and airport staffing shortages. but today transportation secretary pete buttigieg confident that holiday travelers will not be impacted. the deadline tomorrow, that s not a cliff. people aren t getting immediately pulled off their posts. it s part of a process to make sure that everyone in the federal workforce is safe. reporter: the busiest airports this weekend, atlanta, dallas, and los angeles. if you plan to drive you will have plenty of company as well. aaa is expecting more than 48 million people will hit the roads this week. the price of gas right now is ridiculous, so every cent counts. report
missing a key ingredient. she stopped to fill up her gas tank. after being cooped occupy last year, a lot of people have decided to get out of dodge for the holiday. when betty finally gets to the pump, she s not pleased with the price, because the national average price of gas is $3.41 a gallon, up from $2.12 a year ago. well, as betty leaves the gas station, she gets a call from her brother in california, whose flight is already delayed because of a tsa worker shortage at the airport. he was supposed to bring her a bottle of betty s favorite napa valley pino noir, which pairs perfectly with that holiday turkey. alas, betty will have to buy her own wine, because as you recall, betty likes wine. all right, betty s thanksgiving is officially ruined, but hanukkah just around the corner. it starts on november 28th. maybe she ll have better luck then. november 28th maybe she ll have better luck then
meltdowns and canceling thousands of flights this year, spirit, american and southwest say they re ready. southwest and american even offering incentives to employees to work over the holidays though, employee response has been skeptical. american pilots rejected the offer. this is the new normal air traffic has more than doubled from a year ago today and at the same time, airlines were asking staff to retire. it s not as easy as pulling them back from retirement there are systemic issues going on. throw in the coming storm on the east coast and airline delays could quickly start to mount but the vast majority of americans will be driving to their thanksgiving gatherings, paying $3.41 a gallon on average for gas, the most since thanksgiving 2013. a 200-mile road trip will cost roughly $27 compared to $17 last year on the jersey turnpike today, the early birds were getting ahead of the traffic. with the
much as possible. reporter: aaa estimates more than 53 million thanksgiving travelers this year. a 13% increase from 2020 and the highest single-year jump since 2005. even with gas prices averaging $3.41 a gallon over $1 more than last year, the vast majority of americans will be driving to their destinations. with wednesday afternoon expected to hit peak congestion. but friday marked one of the busiest days for passenger traffic at l.a.x. with air travel approaching pre-pandemic levels airport officials say arrive early and be patient. the level of unruly behavior is much higher than i ve ever seen it. unruly passenger needs to get off the airplane. reporter: more than 5,200 incidents reported to the faa this year. they re cracking down with hefty fines. up to $37,000 per violation. don t ruin your travel plans. don t ruin holiday plans,