Travelers this Thanksgiving may still feel on edge after the historic government shutdown that caused widespread flight cancellations and delays. But experts say staying informed about weather, traffic, and airport wait times can help ease anxiety. The FAA is preparing for its busiest Thanksgiving in 15 years, with over 360,000 flights scheduled. And the TSA expects to screen more than 17.8 million people. Winter weather could impact major airports, so travelers should check forecasts regularly. Packing smartly and arriving early can also reduce stress. For road trips, AAA advises checking your car and avoiding peak traffic times.

Airlines have canceled over 9,000 flights across the U.S. since the Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight cuts late last week. The cuts aim to ease demands on short-staffed control towers during the federal government shutdown. On Tuesday, another 1,200 flights were canceled as the FAA increased its target for reducing flights at major airports. Flights are expected to remain disrupted even as the shutdown nears an end, and cancellations are unlikely to ease right away. The pace of airline ticket sales for Thanksgiving travel has slowed as more travelers have reconsidered whether to fly amid all the delays and cancellations.

Anxious travelers across the U.S. felt a bit of relief as airlines mostly stayed on schedule while gradually cutting flights because of the government shutdown. More than 800 flights were called off on Friday to comply with the Federal Aviation Administration's order to reduce service. Some passengers were forced make last-minute changes and rebook on different flights. Plenty of nervousness remained, as more canceled flights are expected in the coming days. Airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Denver and Dallas led the way with the most disruptions, and long security lines added to travelers' woes. The upheaval will intensify the longer the shutdown lasts and could become chaotic if it extends into the Thanksgiving holiday, just weeks from now.

The federal government shutdown has entered its second week, and already shortages of air traffic controllers have strained operations and disrupted flights at some U.S. airports. The situation may well get worse if the shutdown continues and employees start to miss paychecks. And there is no way to predict what airports might have problems on any given day. So be sure to check your flight's status before you head to the airport. If your flight is canceled, airlines will rebook you on a later flight. If you no longer want to take the trip, you should be able to get a refund. But each airline's policies can differ, and airlines are not required to pay cash compensation.

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights reach record highs, the airlines running the trips have taken steps to make it more difficult to track the planes used to carry shackled people across the country and around the world. That's according to independent groups monitoring the flights. In recent months, ICE Air contractors started using dummy call signs for the planes in the air and are hiding their tail numbers so they can't be located on public tracking websites. Once on the ground, the planes are parked behind buildings so the migrants can't be seen arriving or boarding. Despite these obstacles, dedicated immigrant rights advocates have created ways to follow ICE flights using shared information and crowdsourced data from radio signals.

It's the last day to book a flight on Southwest Airlines without being hit with a fee to check bags after the airline abandoned a decades-long luggage policy. Southwest Airlines will start charging many of its customers a fee to check bags beginning on Wednesday, abandoning a decades-long practice that its executives once described as key to differentiating the budget carrier from its rivals. The airline announced the change in March, saying at the time that the the new policy would start with flights booked on Wednesday.