WASHINGTON -- AAA indicated that for the first time in six years, fewer people are expected to travel for Thanksgiving this year. But millions will still be in transit, so the Bush administration is trying to ease the crunch.

Traveler Jon Maron said he'll brave the crowds to fly cross-country for Thanksgiving.

Holiday Travel Numbers Expected To Drop

"It has to do with needing to be with people that you want to be around on the holidays," Maron said.

He said he'll have lots of company. AAA said 41 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more over the holiday weekend. That's down from last year by 1.4 percent last year.

"It was a bit of a surprise, a pleasant surprise, I would say," AAA President Bob Darbelnet said.

While the slow economy is savaging most consumer spending, AAA said holiday travel is taking a smaller hit.

"Grandma is very important," Darbelnet said. "When the purse strings and the heartstrings are in a tug of war, the heartstrings win out."

Thanks to falling gas prices, AAA said 81 percent of Thanksgiving travelers will drive down only about 1 percent from 2007.

Train and bus trips are expected to jump almost 6 percent as other travelers seek cheap alternatives to flying. Air travel is projected to drop about 7 percent.

Feds Hope To Ease Air Travel

For people who are planning to fly during the holiday season, the Bush administration announced some steps to make that a little easier.

Last year, some military airspace on the East Coast was opened to commercial jets for Thanksgiving.

"This year, we're going to expand what we call the Thanksgiving Express Lanes to areas of the Midwest, the Southwest, and the West Coast," President George W. Bush said.

That extra airspace will also be open for Christmas this year and federal agencies and airlines plan to have more staff working the holidays to speed up check-in and boarding.

AAA offered some tips to make Thanksgiving travel less stressful. They said for those traveling next week, avoid traveling on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and Sunday after since those are the busiest times. Also, drivers should try to avoid rush hour on Wednesday afternoon.

Even though fewer people may be flying, there won't be more elbow room on holiday flights. Airlines slashed their schedules earlier in the year as a result of high fuel prices and the slowing economy, so an airline industry trade group said with fewer planes in the air flights will be about 90 to 100 percent full over the holidays.