Even though there is technically still a month of spring on the horizon, travelers often look forward to it Memorial Day weekend as an unofficial kick-off to the summer season – and the traffic infamously reflects that. Based on current forecasts, travel around the upcoming holiday of next Monday, May 27, in 2024 is not expected to rid Memorial Day of its bad reputation for drivers and airline passengers. They may even be on some of the busiest highways and flights they’ve seen in decades.
The American Auto Association (AAA) warned this weekend of potentially unprecedented traffic congestion, including at airports even busier than in recent years. The organization that looks at various economic factors and is working with other groups to project travel conditions, announced earlier this month that an estimated 43.8 million people in the United States are likely to travel at least 50 miles from Thursday to Monday. According to AAA, that would represent a 4% increase in total travel compared to 2023. It would also come close to matching the busiest Memorial Day weekend ever, which occurred in 2005 when 44 million people left their homes for the holiday .
“We haven’t seen Memorial Day weekend travel numbers like this in nearly two decades,” Paula Twidale, senior vice president of the travel division at AAA, said in a statement. “We expect an additional million travelers this holiday weekend compared to 2019, which not only means we exceed pre-pandemic levels but also signals a very busy summer travel season ahead.”
For those planning to hit the road or board a plane this weekend, here’s what they need to know.
Prepare for traffic
According to AAA, Memorial Day weekend is expected to set a new record for road trips in 2024. The organization estimates that 38.4 million people will travel in cars over the course of the weekend, which would be the largest number recorded around this particular holiday since the group first started tracking Memorial’s travel patterns in 2000 Day. Car rental company Hertz told AAA that demand for rental properties this year will be highest in Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas and Orlando, with most renters picking up their cars on Thursdays and Fridays.
In general, drivers hoping to beat the traffic, or at least encounter it less, should avoid the roads during the afternoon hours on any day of the long weekend. Citing transit data from INRIX, AAA said the worst times to travel by car in any U.S. time zone are on Thursdays between noon and 6 p.m., on Fridays between noon and 7 p.m., and on Saturdays between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. . on Sunday between 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM and on Monday between 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM. The best times to ride are on Thursdays before 11am or after 7pm, on Fridays before 11am or after 8pm, on Saturdays before 1pm or after 6pm, on Sundays before 1pm and on Mondays after 7pm.
Airports will be busy
Airports across the country are bracing for another spike in travelers, following an upward trend in the number of flights booked around Memorial Day since air travel exceeded pre-pandemic levels last year. According to AAA, an estimated 3.51 million people will fly this weekend, up from the 3.35 million who traveled to their destinations by plane last year. If as many people fly as expected, this will be the busiest Memorial Day weekend at airports since 2005, when AAA said 3.64 million people took flights for the holiday.
United Airlines said it expects to fly more than 500,000 people each day from Thursday through Tuesday, which would be the airline’s busiest Memorial Day weekend ever. Delta said 3 million people are expected to fly on its planes during that six-day period and American Airlines said it expects 3.9 million people to fly over the weekend.
Tips for public transport
Each of the expected 1.9 million people using public transportation to get to their destinations this weekend can also plan ahead. INRIX projections show that subway passengers will experience some degree of traffic congestion in major cities including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon, San Diego , San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C. Congestion in the metros is expected to peak in those places between Thursday and Monday each day in the late afternoon, early evening and mid-morning.
Forecasts suggest that DC, Los Angeles, Houston and Tampa will see the largest increases in metro crowds compared to their respective standards. The worst is forecast for one route from Gainesville to Tampa, where INRIX said subway congestion could be 88% higher than normal by 9 a.m. local time on Sunday.
Kris Van Cleave contributed to the reporting.
