A chaotic Labor Day weekend is in store, as 95 million Americans are expected to travel during the holiday season — which is likely to be fraught with traffic delays.
More than 20 million passengers are expected to leave the state from Saturday to Monday, according to travel booking app Hopper – an 11% increase from last year – due to the massive growth in international travel in recent months.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans hit the road for shorter vacations to nearby beaches, theme parks and forest retreats.
David Pekoske, of the Transport Security Administration, said passenger volumes this year are expected to be even greater than last year, which was already higher than 2019 levels.
But last year’s Labor Day weekend was marred by mass cancellations, with thousands of frustrated fliers waiting hours—or sometimes even days—for a new flight due to long flight delays.
A chaotic Labor Day weekend is in store, as 95 million Americans are expected to travel during the holiday season — which is likely to be fraught with traffic delays. (Photo: New York’s Grand Central Terminal ahead of Labor Day weekend)
More than 20 million people are expected to leave the state this Labor Day weekend, according to travel booking app Hopper — an 11% increase from last year. (Pictured: A passenger at O’Hare International Airport on Friday)
David Pekoske, of the Transport Security Administration, said passenger volumes this year are expected to be even greater than last year – which was already higher than 2019 levels
This year’s holiday could be similar, with 2,522 arrivals and departures from the United States already postponed Friday, according to tracking website Flight Aware.
“We expect this Labor Day holiday weekend to be busy, with passenger volumes up nearly 11% from last year — volumes that already exceeded Labor Day travel volumes in 2019,” TSA’s Pekoske said in a statement.
This comes after a giant cloud of dust in Arizona on Thursday caused massive power outages and grounded flights, especially around Maricopa County, the state’s most populous area.
Meanwhile, further east, Hurricane Idalia wreaked havoc in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, disrupting travel plans for thousands of people.
According to flight tracking website Flightaware.com, more than 1,500 flights were delayed and 60 canceled on Friday as the storm slammed into the Big Bend region.
Despite this, according to Hopper, nearly 400,000 passengers would depart from airports in Idalia’s direct route on Thursday and Friday, according to Hopper.
Atlanta, GA, is expected to be the busiest airport, with 1,541,254 people departing over the Labor Day holiday.
Approximately 1,024,839 passengers will depart from Denver, CO, which will be the second busiest airport this long weekend.
Dallas Fort-Worth, Texas ranks third with 983,089 people leaving the state during the Labor Day period, with Los Angeles, CA fourth with 927,031 and Chicago, IL fifth with 816,943.
As vacationers prepare to depart this weekend, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned passengers to “respect the flight crews” working during the Labor Day period.
“When you’re on a plane, don’t get in the way of the flight crew,” he told CNN Friday before boarding a flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
“We expect everyone to be respectful of the flight crew and their fellow passengers.”
“No one should do anything that endangers the flight crew or fellow passengers on an airplane, and doing so could result in you being referred for criminal charges and could face tens of thousands of dollars in fines.”
As vacationers prepare to fly this weekend, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (pictured) warned passengers to “respect flight crews” who worked over the Labor Day period
Last year, Labor Day weekend was marred by massive flight cancellations, with thousands of frustrated fliers waiting hours—or even days—for a new flight due to major flight delays. (Pictured: People traveling through JFK Airport Terminal 4 for the Labor Day weekend)
Millions of Americans hit the road for shorter vacations to nearby beaches, theme parks and forest retreats
Nationally, international bookings for flights, hotels, rental cars and cruises for the Labor Day weekend were up 44% from a year ago, according to travel group AAA, while domestic bookings were up 4% from last year.
The exodus is good news for hoteliers, who can expect to cash in on the bookings.
Travel companies with larger international footprints have reported strong gains, with companies ranging from Airbnb to Marriott forecasting strong future demand due to robust global travel and higher room rates.
“US room rates increased 2.5% for the first 26 days of August and we expect similar long weekend rate increases year over year,” said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group.
AAA said Vancouver, Rome, London, Dublin and Paris were the top five destinations for the long weekend.
Domestic cruise bookings are also looking good, up 19% from a year ago, AAA estimates.
According to Hopper, airfare for domestic getaways averages $226 per ticket, down 11% from last year and 20% down from Labor Day weekend in 2019.