The Christmas travel rush is on as folks try to leave ahead of powerful storm system

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - The scramble is on to get out of town ahead of a winter storm set to impact much of the northern portion of the country and the Delaware Valley before Christmas.

Like many travelers, the Spear family’s Christmas holiday started a bit early this year. They, like many others, are changing plans and taking earlier flights to beat what’s expected to be a massive winter storm, one that’s already causing flight delays and cancelations across the country.

"Booked on United and we anticipated it was gonna get canceled because of storms on Thursday and Friday, and then we rebooked on a Southwest Wednesday night flight that was canceled and then re-booked twice back on the United flight for this afternoon," Tim Spear explained.

An estimated 113 million people will travel 50 miles or more for Christmas and the holiday is shaping up to be the third-busiest travel holiday since AAA started tracking more than 20 years ago.

"Locally, we’ve got 1.3 million Philadelphia residents tell us that they will travel 50 miles or more for the holiday. That’s about 30 percent of the population," AAA spokesperson Jana Tidwell said.

The Best family from Houston travels every year for Christmas. They say it’s always stressful, but always worth it.

"It’s always stressful. With three kids, especially, but it’s really nice to be with family for the holidays," Grace Best remarked.

Up to 190 million Americans are under some sort of weather advisory for the storm. For the Spears family and their dog, even a few travel headaches is a small price to pay for the holidays.

"Spending time with family living a little bit further away from everybody makes it a little hard sometimes, but getting together over the holidays makes it worth it," Liz Spear said.

Wednesday, most flights are on-time. Thursday and Friday, delays will be inevitable so check in with your airline before heading to the airport.