Short answer: yes. Uber and Lyft run all day on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and a holiday ride usually does not cost more. We checked 121 million real trips from New York City's last two holiday seasons:
- On Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, the typical fare for the same trip was within 5% of an ordinary day in both years (−5% to +1%).
- Holiday mornings had the biggest discounts: 15–20% below a normal weekday morning, between 7 and 9 a.m.
- The costly hours come later. At 1 a.m. on New Year's Day the typical fare was 2.1 to 2.2 times the normal fare.
- At airports the wait is the problem, not the price. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 36–40% of airport pickups waited more than 10 minutes, against about 21% on an ordinary Sunday.
Search for holiday Uber prices and you mostly find forum threads and guesses. We wanted numbers. New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) publishes a record of every Uber and Lyft trip in the city, with the fare, the wait and the company. We took every trip from November 1 to January 31 in the last two seasons, 121 million in all. We call them the 2024 season and the 2025 season, after the year each one started. Then we compared each trip with what the same trip normally costs: same pickup neighborhood, same drop-off neighborhood, same type of day, same hour.
We also checked Chicago's public rideshare data and the TSA's daily airport counts. The full method is at the end. In 2026, Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, Christmas is Friday, December 25, and New Year's Eve is Thursday, December 31.
Does Uber Run on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?
Yes. Uber and Lyft don't close for holidays. Drivers choose their own hours, and plenty of them work. Uber does run on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, around the clock, and so does Lyft.
In New York, riders took 644,869 Uber and Lyft trips on Thanksgiving Day 2025 and 513,648 on Christmas Day. That is 4% and 24% fewer than an ordinary Thursday. Even around 5 a.m. on Christmas morning, the quietest hour of the day, about 9,000 rides were requested.
Is Uber busy on Thanksgiving and Christmas?
Less busy than usual. Thanksgiving Day had about 4–5% fewer rides than normal in the two years, and Christmas Day had 22–24% fewer. Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving Eve were close to a normal day. New Year's Eve was the busy one.
| Day | Trips | vs normal (2025 / 2024) | Typical wait | Waited 10+ min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving Eve (Nov 26) | 649,880 | +3% / +1% | 3.8 min | 6% |
| Thanksgiving Day (Nov 27) | 644,869 | −4% / −5% | 4.3 min | 8% |
| Black Friday (Nov 28) | 587,464 | −21% / −22% | 3.6 min | 5% |
| Christmas Eve (Dec 24) | 634,017 | +1% / +2% | 4.3 min | 9% |
| Christmas Day (Dec 25) | 513,648 | −24% / −22% | 4.5 min | 11% |
| Day after Christmas (Dec 26) | 531,890 | −29% / −30% | 4.0 min | 8% |
| New Year's Eve (Dec 31) | 750,400 | +19% / +14% | 4.3 min | 9% |
| New Year's Day (Jan 1) | 710,670 | +6% / +2% | 5.0 min | 14% |
| Average ordinary day | 678,040 | — | 3.8 min | 6% |
Source: RideWise analysis of NYC TLC trip records. Dates, trips and waits are for the 2025 season. "vs normal" compares each day with ordinary days that fall on the same weekday, first for the 2025 season and then for the 2024 season. The last row averages all ordinary days, so it is not the base for each row. Wait is the time from request to pickup.
The wait changes a little. On an ordinary day 6% of New York riders wait more than 10 minutes for a car. On Christmas Day 11% did, and the share roughly doubled the year before too. The typical wait was 4.5 min on Christmas Day and 4.3 min on Thanksgiving, against 3.8 min normally.
Chicago shows the same drop in rides, only bigger. The city's public trip data records 193,709 rideshare trips on Thanksgiving Day 2025 and 125,963 on Christmas Day. That is 24% and 51% below an ordinary Thursday there. Smaller cities and suburbs have fewer drivers to begin with, so allow extra time.
Is Uber More Expensive on Thanksgiving or Christmas?
Usually not. This is the main finding, and it surprised us. The chart shows the typical fare each day of the 2025 season, compared with what the same trips normally cost.
| Day | 2025 season | 2024 season | Paid 1.5×+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving Eve | +1% | +1% | 10% |
| Thanksgiving Day | −2% | +1% | 11% |
| Black Friday | −7% | −6% | 8% |
| Sunday after Thanksgiving | −1% | 0% | 10% |
| Monday after Thanksgiving | 0% | −1% | 10% |
| Christmas Eve | −1% | +3% | 9% |
| Christmas Day | −5% | 0% | 9% |
| Day after Christmas | −5% | 0% | 10% |
| New Year's Eve | 0% | +5% | 12% |
| New Year's Day | +2% | +3% | 21% |
| Ordinary day | 0% | 0% | 10% |
Source: RideWise analysis of NYC TLC trip records. Fares before tolls, tips, taxes and fees. "Paid 1.5×+" is the share of 2025-season riders who paid at least 1.5 times the normal fare. Some riders do on any day because they book a bigger or nicer car, so compare that column with the ordinary-day row.
Three things stand out.
- Thanksgiving and Christmas were normal or a little cheaper. Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving Eve were within about 3% of normal.
- Black Friday was the cheapest of these days in both years, about 6–7% below normal. Many offices are closed that day.
- New Year's Day looks normal for the day as a whole. It hides the most expensive hours of the season, which we cover below.
Why would a holiday be cheaper? The likely reason is that fares follow demand and traffic, not the calendar. Uber says its prices rise "when a lot of people in the same area are requesting rides at the same time." A holiday has no rush hour. Fewer people request rides, and with empty roads each ride takes less time. So is Uber more expensive on holidays? In this data, only in a few specific hours.
Holiday mornings had the biggest discounts
Between 7 and 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day 2025, fares ran 17–19% below a normal weekday morning. Christmas morning was the same, at 18–20% lower. The 2024 season matched: 15–16% and 17–18%.
Thanksgiving gets pricier as the day goes on. From noon to 3 p.m. fares were within 3% of normal in 2025 and 6–16% above it in 2024. The peak came around 10 p.m., about when dinners end: 10% above normal in 2025 and 21% in 2024.
Christmas Day stays cheap longer. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. fares ran 8–12% below normal in 2025 and 0–10% below in 2024. The evening never ran more than about 5% above normal. The one pricier stretch was midnight to 5 a.m., probably as Christmas Eve gatherings ended: 4–18% above normal.
One route in dollars: Midtown to the airports
Here is the typical all-in fare from Midtown Manhattan to the two big airports in the 2025 season. All-in means the fare plus tolls, taxes and city fees, before tip.
| Day | To JFK | Ride time | To LaGuardia | Ride time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average ordinary day | $118 | 55 min | $77 | 31 min |
| Thanksgiving Eve | $120 | 54 min | $76 | 34 min |
| Thanksgiving Day | $101 | 39 min | $69 | 24 min |
| Sunday after Thanksgiving | $109 | 44 min | $69 | 26 min |
| Monday after Thanksgiving | $125 | 65 min | $79 | 35 min |
| Christmas Eve | $108 | 47 min | $74 | 27 min |
| Christmas Day | $98 | 35 min | $67 | 23 min |
| New Year's Day | $106 | 37 min | $71 | 24 min |
Source: RideWise analysis of NYC TLC trip records. Middle (median) fare for all Uber and Lyft trips from 14 Midtown-area taxi zones. Unlike the tables above, this one is not matched by hour or weekday, and it mixes ride types, so it includes XL and Black trips and runs higher than an UberX quote.
This one route moves more than the citywide number, because an airport ride is long and traffic matters more. The ride to JFK cost about $20 less on Christmas Day and took 20 fewer minutes. The Monday after Thanksgiving went the other way: 65 minutes and $125. For the cheapest way to each airport, see our guides to JFK, LaGuardia and Newark.
When Holiday-Season Rides Really Cost More
The expensive times are real. They are just not the holidays themselves.
1. The first hours of New Year's Day
At 1 a.m. on January 1, 2026, the typical New York fare was 2.1 times the normal fare for the same trip. More than half of riders (53%) paid at least double, and one in ten paid 3.8 times or more. On January 1, 2025, the numbers were 2.2 times and 56%.
Prices started to climb around 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve. From 9 to 11 p.m. they were 19–21% above normal in 2025 and 41–47% in 2024. They were back to about 1.3 times normal by 3 a.m. Our New Year's Eve guide has the full night, hour by hour.
2. The two weeks before Christmas
In December 2025, the ten weekdays before Christmas week averaged 6% above normal, and the worst of them was 11% above. In 2024 the average was 9% and the worst weekday 16%. On 12 of the first 23 days of December 2025, the typical fare was at least 5% above normal. In 2024 it was 17 of 23.
Almost one rider in five paid 1.5 times the normal fare or more in those two weeks (18–19%, against 9–10% on ordinary days). The likely reason is holiday parties, shopping and visitors, all while people are still going to work.
3. Bad weather
The most expensive stretch of the 2025 season had nothing to do with a holiday. After 11.4 inches of snow fell in Central Park on January 25 and 26, 2026, fares ran 21–23% above normal from January 27 to 30. No holiday came close to that for a whole day.
The priciest day of December 2025 before Christmas was the 14th, a Sunday, at +12%. That was the day a storm left 2.9 inches in Central Park. For why rain and snow push fares up, see how surge pricing works.
4. The afternoon before Thanksgiving
You can see the rush out of town in the data. Between 2 and 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve, fares were 8–10% above normal in 2025 and 14–18% in 2024. They were back to normal by 6 p.m.
The night is a different story. Thanksgiving Eve is often called the biggest bar night of the year. In New York, fares from 9 p.m. to midnight were never more than 3% above normal in either year. From 1 to 4 a.m. they ran 3–8% higher.
Holiday Airport Rides: On Return Days, the Wait Is the Problem
AAA expected 81.8 million people to travel over Thanksgiving 2025 and 122.4 million over the year-end holidays, most of them by car. The TSA screened 3.13 million people on Sunday, November 30, 2025, which Reuters reported as the highest number for a single day. Here is what those days did to rides at New York's airports.
| Day | TSA screened | Airport rides vs normal | Pickup wait | Waited 10+ min (normal) | 2026 date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday before Thanksgiving (Nov 26) | 2.75 million | +16% | 4.1 min | 13% (17%) | Wed, Nov 25 |
| Thanksgiving Day (Nov 27) | 1.56 million | −41% | 4.0 min | 9% (19%) | Thu, Nov 26 |
| Sunday after Thanksgiving (Nov 30) | 3.13 million | +15% | 7.5 min | 36% (20%) | Sun, Nov 29 |
| Monday after Thanksgiving (Dec 1) | 2.89 million | +17% | 6.6 min | 30% (20%) | Mon, Nov 30 |
| Saturday before Christmas (Dec 20) | 2.75 million | +52% | 4.4 min | 12% (15%) | Sat, Dec 19 |
| Christmas Day (Dec 25) | 2.07 million | −39% | 4.0 min | 10% (19%) | Fri, Dec 25 |
| Sunday after Christmas (Dec 28) | 2.92 million | −7% | 6.0 min | 25% (20%) | Sun, Dec 27 |
| Sunday after New Year's Day (Jan 4) | 2.82 million | 0% | 6.9 min | 31% (20%) | Sun, Jan 3, 2027 |
| Average ordinary day | 2.35 million | 0% | 5.1 min | 18% | — |
Sources: TSA checkpoint travel numbers; RideWise analysis of NYC TLC trip records. TSA counts are for all US airports, and the TSA ordinary day is the average of November 3 to 23, 2025. Airport rides are trips to JFK, LaGuardia or Newark, or from JFK or LaGuardia, compared with an ordinary day of the same weekday. Waits are for pickups at JFK and LaGuardia. The share in brackets is the same measure on an ordinary day of that weekday. The 2026 dates are the matching days, not a forecast from the TSA or AAA.
Getting to the airport is the easy half. Coming home is the hard part.
On the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2025, pickups at JFK and LaGuardia ran 21–90% above a normal Sunday, hour by hour, from 6 a.m. on. Between 2 and 6 p.m. the typical rider waited 8–10 minutes for a car instead of 4 to 5, and 40–48% waited more than 10 minutes. By 11 p.m. the typical wait was 12.6 minutes.
For the whole day, 36% of airport pickups waited more than 10 minutes, against 20% on an ordinary Sunday. The year before it was 40% against 22%. The Monday after Thanksgiving was slow in both years too.
The price moved much less. Airport pickups that Sunday afternoon cost 14–17% more than normal. The later return Sundays were mixed. In the 2025 season, 25% of airport pickups waited more than 10 minutes on the Sunday after Christmas and 31% on the Sunday after New Year's Day. In the 2024 season both Sundays were close to normal.
Lyft's own numbers point the same way. It says there are 20% more airport rides than usual on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and 30% more rides to the airport on the Sunday and Monday after. In New York we measured 16–21% more airport rides on that Wednesday.
Flying out on the holiday itself
If you fly on Thanksgiving or Christmas morning, the ride is the easy part. Between 5 and 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving, rides to New York's airports were about as common as on a normal Thursday, cost up to 19% less, and were picked up about as fast as usual. On Christmas morning there were 12–25% fewer airport rides than normal, and they cost up to 20% less.
Should you schedule the ride?
For an early flight or a return Sunday, it is worth a look. Uber Reserve lets you book up to 90 days ahead with "locked-in rates." The price can still change if you add a stop or change the route, and a reserved ride is not always the cheapest option. Uber also says it "doesn't guarantee that a driver will accept your ride request," so check that a driver is assigned.
Lyft also lets you schedule up to 90 days in advance. For a scheduled airport ride, Lyft says your driver "will be there within 10 minutes of your pickup time," or you get up to $100 in Lyft credits. Check the current terms in the app before you rely on either promise.
Our Uber Reserve guide covers prices and cancellation rules. If you are deciding whether to drive, see airport parking vs Uber. Traveling with family and bags? Check how much luggage fits in an UberXL. Airport fees are listed in our airport fee guide.
Uber vs Lyft on Holidays: Which Was Cheaper?
We compared each app's typical fare on the same routes and hours. On ordinary days in these two seasons, Lyft ran 3–4% below Uber. Here is what changed on the holidays.
| Day | 2025 season | 2024 season |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary day | Lyft 3% cheaper | Lyft 4% cheaper |
| Thanksgiving Eve | About even | About even |
| Thanksgiving Day | About even | About even |
| Christmas Eve | Lyft 7% cheaper | Uber 3% cheaper |
| Christmas Day | Lyft 8% cheaper | Uber 2% cheaper |
| New Year's Eve | Lyft 6% cheaper | Uber 3% cheaper |
| New Year's Day | Lyft 7% cheaper | Lyft 1% cheaper |
Source: RideWise analysis of NYC TLC trip records. Each row is the whole day. Ride types are not labeled in the records, so each app's fares mix its standard and premium cars.
- Thanksgiving. Lyft's discount disappeared on Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day in both years. The two apps cost about the same.
- New Year's. Over the whole day Lyft was not more expensive, but in the peak hours it was. At 1 a.m. Lyft's typical fare was 12% above Uber's on January 1, 2026 and 20% above on January 1, 2025.
- Christmas. No pattern. Lyft was clearly cheaper in 2025 and slightly pricier in 2024.
Waits were close. On Christmas Day 2025 the typical Uber pickup took 4.6 min and the typical Lyft pickup 4.2 min. So neither app wins the holidays by default. Open both, or use Compare Uber and Lyft prices to see them side by side. Our Lyft vs Uber study found that Lyft's everyday discount had mostly closed by mid-2026, so check both apps on ordinary days too.
Does This Hold Outside New York?
New York is the only US city we know of that publishes every trip with the company named. Chicago publishes trips too, but not the app, and it rounds fares to the nearest $2.50. That is enough for a rough check.
| Day | Trips | vs normal | Average fare | Normal fare | Average ride |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving Day (Nov 27) | 193,709 | −24% | $17.82 | $17.05 | 8.4 mi vs 7.2 |
| Christmas Day (Dec 25) | 125,963 | −51% | $17.39 | $17.05 | 8.9 mi vs 7.2 |
| New Year's Eve (Dec 31) | 315,237 | +39% | $15.40 | $16.71 | 6.3 mi vs 7.2 |
| New Year's Day (Jan 1) | 263,616 | +4% | $19.97 | $17.05 | 6.7 mi vs 7.2 |
Source: RideWise analysis of the City of Chicago's Transportation Network Providers trips dataset, one season. "Normal" is an ordinary day of the same weekday. Plain averages, not matched by route, so longer holiday rides push the average fare up.
The pattern looks similar. Chicago had far fewer rides on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The average fare was about normal even though the average ride was about a quarter longer on Christmas Day. And the average fare jumped 17% on New Year's Day, on shorter rides.
We can't promise your city behaves the same way. Small markets have fewer drivers, so a quiet holiday can mean a long wait there. But the logic should hold anywhere: fares rise when many people want a ride at once, not because the date is a holiday.
If your city moved like New York
This table applies the two New York extremes to our own UberX estimates for a 10-mile, 25-minute ride. Holiday morning is 17% below our ordinary estimate. New Year's 1 a.m. is 2.1 times that estimate.
| Metro area | Ordinary time | Holiday morning | New Year's Day, 1 a.m. |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City | $31.55 | $26.06 | $66.89 |
| Los Angeles | $23.95 | $19.78 | $50.77 |
| Chicago | $24.50 | $20.23 | $51.94 |
| Miami | $21.20 | $17.51 | $44.94 |
| Orlando | $19.43 | $16.05 | $41.19 |
| Las Vegas | $22.85 | $18.87 | $48.44 |
| Washington, DC | $25.70 | $21.22 | $54.48 |
| Boston | $26.70 | $22.05 | $56.60 |
| San Francisco | $27.65 | $22.84 | $58.62 |
| Atlanta | $20.00 | $16.52 | $42.40 |
| Dallas–Fort Worth | $19.45 | $16.06 | $41.23 |
| Denver | $20.60 | $17.01 | $43.67 |
| Phoenix | $19.20 | $15.86 | $40.70 |
| Seattle | $24.85 | $20.52 | $52.68 |
These are RideWise estimates, not measured fares. The ordinary price is the midpoint of our rate-card estimate for each metro. The other two columns scale it by the average of the two New York seasons. Part of New York's holiday-morning discount comes from faster roads, so treat that column as a rough guide. Your city's holiday pattern may differ.
To price your own trip, use the Uber price estimate calculator or the Lyft fare calculator. Both work without logging in.
Quick Uber fare estimator
Estimate a non-surge fare from the 2026 rate card. This is an estimate, not a live quote — your in-app upfront price is the price you pay.
| Service | Estimated fare |
|---|---|
| Uber (UberX) | $16.98–$21.62 |
| LyftCheapest | $16.55–$21.06 |
| Taxi | $18.48–$23.52 |
Taxi shown at metered rates (no booking fee, surge not applied). Tip not included. For a city-by-city comparison with live routes, use the RideWise rate comparison tool.
The 2026 Holiday Ride Calendar
This is our forecast for 2026. It is based on what happened on the matching days in New York in the last two seasons.
| 2026 date | What happened in the last two seasons | What we would do |
|---|---|---|
| Wed, Nov 25 (Thanksgiving Eve) | Normal overall. 8–18% above normal from 2 to 5 p.m., back to normal by 6 p.m. Airport rides up 16–21%. | Leave before 2 p.m. or after 6 p.m. |
| Thu, Nov 26 (Thanksgiving) | About normal for the day (2% lower in 2025 and 1% higher in 2024). 15–19% cheaper from 7 to 9 a.m. Up 10–21% around 10 p.m. | Cheapest before noon. Pickups took up to a minute longer than usual. |
| Fri, Nov 27 (Black Friday) | 6–7% below normal, the cheapest of these days in both years. | A good day for errands and long rides. |
| Sun, Nov 29 and Mon, Nov 30 | City fares normal. At JFK and LaGuardia, 36–40% of Sunday pickups and 30–34% of Monday pickups waited over 10 minutes. | Landing in the afternoon or evening? Expect a long wait for a car. |
| Mon, Dec 7 to Fri, Dec 18 (weekdays) | 6–9% above normal on average, and 11–16% above on the worst weekday of each year. | Compare both apps every time. |
| Sat, Dec 19 (Saturday before Christmas) | The biggest airport-ride day compared with normal: up 46–52%. Pickup waits were about normal. | Busy, but cars were easy to get. |
| Thu, Dec 24 (Christmas Eve) | About normal for the day (1% lower in 2025 and 3% higher in 2024). 3–8% above normal from 7 to 11 p.m. | A normal day. Evenings run a little higher. |
| Fri, Dec 25 (Christmas Day) | Normal or cheaper for the day (5% lower in 2025 and the same in 2024), with 22–24% fewer rides. 17–20% cheaper from 7 to 9 a.m. 4–18% above normal from midnight to 5 a.m. | Cheap during the day. Pickups took up to a minute longer. |
| Thu, Dec 31 (New Year's Eve), evening | Normal until about 8 p.m. 19–47% above normal from 9 to 11 p.m. | Go out before 8 p.m. |
| Fri, Jan 1, 2027, midnight to 3 a.m. | 2.1 to 2.2 times the normal fare at 1 a.m. Back to about 1.3 times by 3 a.m. | Leave before midnight or wait until 3 a.m. |
Past results from New York City, 2024 and 2025 seasons. Christmas falls on a Friday in 2026. It was a Thursday in 2025 and a Wednesday in 2024, so Christmas night may be busier this year. Weather can change any of this.
Our Take: 6 Rules for Holiday Rides
- Ride on the holiday morning. We call it the empty-road rule. With no commuters, fares from 7 to 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving and Christmas ran 15–20% below normal.
- Plan for the wait when you fly home after Thanksgiving. Request the moment you have your bags, and compare the taxi line or the train. A car that costs 15% more is a small problem. A 12-minute wait with tired kids is a bigger one.
- Outside the biggest cities, reserve early-morning airport rides and keep a backup. A reservation is not a guaranteed driver.
- Compare both apps in December. The two weeks before Christmas cost more than the holiday, and neither app was reliably cheaper on the holidays. Our guide to the cheapest times to book covers ordinary days.
- On New Year's Eve, leave before midnight or wait until 3 a.m. At 1 a.m., open Uber first.
- Watch the forecast more than the calendar. One snowstorm raised whole-day fares more than any holiday did.
One more thing. The driver who takes you to the airport on Christmas morning is giving up part of their holiday. Lyft says its riders tip about 10% more over Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our tipping guide has typical amounts.
Method, and what these numbers are not.
- Data. NYC TLC High-Volume For-Hire Vehicle trip records for November, December and January in 2024–25 and 2025–26. License HV0003 is Uber and HV0005 is Lyft, per the TLC data dictionary. 121 million trips after cleaning.
- Cleaning. We kept trips of 0.3 to 60 miles and 2 minutes to 3 hours with a fare above zero. We dropped shared-ride requests and MTA Access-A-Ride trips. Trips are dated by the time of the request, and an hour such as "7 to 9 a.m." means rides requested from 7:00 to 8:59.
- Normal price. For each trip, the normal price is the middle fare on the same pickup zone and drop-off zone, on the same type of day (Monday to Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday) and in the same hour, on the ordinary days of the same season. Ordinary days are three weeks in November before Thanksgiving week and about three weeks in January, with no federal holiday or major storm: 40 days in 2025–26 and 41 in 2024–25. 75% of trips had a normal price to compare with.
- Typical fare. Each trip's fare is divided by its normal price. The "typical fare" on a day or in an hour is the middle of those ratios, set so that an ordinary day equals 100%. It is what riders paid, not the surge multiplier shown in the app.
- Uber vs Lyft. We compare each app's typical ratio on the same day or hour.
- Fares. The TLC's "base passenger fare" is the fare before tolls, tips, taxes and fees. We can't see promo codes or memberships. Ride types are not labeled, so UberX, XL and Black trips are mixed.
- Waits and airports. A wait is the time from request to pickup. The records hold no pickups at Newark, which is in New Jersey, so airport pickup waits are for JFK and LaGuardia.
- Limits. These are New York results from two seasons. A holiday on a different weekday, or a storm, can change them. The Chicago numbers are plain averages from one season and are not matched by route.
- Updates. The TLC publishes each month about two months late. We plan to add the 2026 season when its files come out in early 2027.
RideWise is not affiliated with Uber, Lyft, the TLC or the TSA and has no affiliate or referral deal with either app.
Read Next
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Uber run on Thanksgiving?
Yes. Uber and Lyft run all day on Thanksgiving. In New York City, riders took 644,869 Uber and Lyft trips on Thanksgiving Day 2025, only 4% fewer than an ordinary Thursday. The typical wait for a car was 4.3 min, against 3.8 min on an ordinary day. In small towns fewer drivers are out, so book early.
Does Uber run on Christmas Day?
Yes. Uber and Lyft run on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, including overnight. New York City riders took 513,648 trips on Christmas Day 2025, about 24% fewer than an ordinary Thursday. Even in the quietest hour, around 5 a.m., about 9,000 rides were requested. Pickups took up to a minute longer than usual.
Is Uber more expensive on holidays?
Mostly no, in New York's trip records. On Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the typical fare was within 5% of an ordinary day in the last two years, and Black Friday was about 6–7% cheaper. The big exception is the first hours of New Year's Day, when the typical fare was 2.1 to 2.2 times the normal fare at 1 a.m.
Is Uber more expensive on Thanksgiving?
Usually not. On the same route at the same hour, the typical New York fare on Thanksgiving Day was 2% lower in 2025 and 1% higher in 2024, compared with an ordinary day. Between 7 and 9 a.m. it was 15–19% cheaper. The priciest part of the day was around 10 p.m., at 10–21% above normal.
Is Uber more expensive on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve?
No, not in this data. Compared with an ordinary day, the typical New York fare on Christmas Day was 5% lower in 2025 and the same in 2024, and on Christmas Eve it was 1% lower in 2025 and 3% higher in 2024. Between 7 and 9 a.m. on Christmas Day it was 17–20% cheaper. The one pricier stretch was midnight to 5 a.m. on Christmas morning, at 4–18% above normal.
Is Uber busy on Thanksgiving?
Less busy than a normal day. New York ride counts were 4–5% lower on Thanksgiving Day, and Chicago's were 24% lower. Fares were highest around 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving and between 2 and 5 p.m. the day before.
Is Uber busy on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Christmas Eve is close to a normal day. Christmas Day is quiet: New York ride counts were 22–24% lower in the last two years and Chicago's were about half of normal. Waits were longer too. The share of New York riders waiting more than 10 minutes roughly doubled, from 6% to 11%.
Does Lyft run on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day?
Yes. Lyft runs on both holidays, around the clock. In New York, Lyft riders were picked up in 4.3 min on Thanksgiving Day 2025 and 4.2 min on Christmas Day, against 3.8 min on an ordinary day. Lyft says its riders tip about 10% more over Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Can I get an Uber to the airport early on Thanksgiving or Christmas morning?
In New York, yes. Between 5 and 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, rides to the airports were about as common as on a normal Thursday, cost up to 19% less, and were picked up about as fast as usual. In smaller cities fewer drivers are out, so reserve the ride ahead and keep a backup.
What are the busiest days for holiday airport rides?
For flights, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The TSA screened 3.13 million people on Sunday, November 30, 2025, the highest single day in its records. For rides, New York airport trips were highest compared with normal on the Saturday before Christmas (up 46–52%). In 2026 those days are Sunday, November 29 and Saturday, December 19.
How long is the wait for an Uber at the airport after Thanksgiving?
Long. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 36–40% of pickups at JFK and LaGuardia waited more than 10 minutes in the last two years, against 20–22% on an ordinary Sunday. Between 2 and 6 p.m. in 2025 the typical wait was 8–10 minutes instead of 4 to 5.
Is Lyft cheaper than Uber on holidays?
There is no steady winner. On ordinary days in these two seasons, Lyft's typical New York fare ran 3–4% below Uber's. That gap disappeared on Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day in both years. At 1 a.m. on New Year's Day, Lyft cost 12–20% more than Uber. Open both apps before you book.
Is Uber more expensive on New Year's Eve?
Yes, late at night. In New York the typical fare at 1 a.m. on New Year's Day was 2.1 to 2.2 times the normal fare in the last two years, and more than half of riders paid at least double. Fares were back to about 1.3 times normal by 3 a.m. Our New Year's Eve guide has the hour-by-hour numbers.
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