Festive travel trouble spots and how best to avoid them

Simon Calder's roundup of the likely Christmas bottlenecks

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All the signs are that this year's festive getaway in, around and away from the UK will be the busiest of the decade, setting new records across transport pressure points.

But what will it mean for your journey? The Independent has consulted dozens of organisations to curate this Christmas travel special. London Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester airports are among those expecting their busiest Christmas to date. The Independent approached all the major airports to ask which days they expected to be their busiest, and these are the responses so far:

• Aberdeen: 19 December

• Bristol: Overall busiest day is 28 December, with 19-21 December and 27-28 December busiest for departures. Busiest arrival days are 28 December, and 2 and 4 January

• Edinburgh: Before Christmas, 19 and 22 December will be busiest; peak day overall is 29 December, with 28 December and 2 January also busy

• Glasgow: 19 December

• Luton: 19 December for departures, 4 January for arrivals, with 28 December busiest overall

• Manchester: 19 and 28 December

• Southampton: 22 December

While not all of the airports have replied, Fridays and Sundays are peaks across the board: Friday 19 December, Sunday 28 December, Friday 2 January and Sunday 4 January.

The top destinations from many airports will be:

• Alicante

• Amsterdam

• Dubai

• Dublin

• Geneva

• Tenerife

Rail