Holiday business travelers have at least one thing to be thankful for —the Pentagon will open unused airspace to commercial airplanes Wednesday Nov. 21 through Sunday Nov. 25, providing air traffic controllers an option for routing flights if there’s bad weather. This “Thanksgiving express lane” should ease congestion at New York airports and increases the chance that many more travelers make it home for dinner.

We can imagine a collective sigh of relief from the airlines, which have been scrambling to prepare for a busier then usual holiday travel season. The Air Transport Association has forecast planes to be 90% full between Nov. 16 and November 27, with a four percent travel increase over the same time last year.

The airlines have struggled with weather-related delays this year, and with the Transportation Department proposing doubling bump fees for denying ticketed passengers a seat, there’s a lot of pressure to get things right.  Even with that, travelers should prepare for significant crowds, get to the airport early and whenever possible fly nonstop.