Millions of people set to travel for Labor Day weekend

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Aixa Diaz of AAA expects a busy weekend of travel for millions of people for Labor Day. She offers some tips to make the holiday travel safe and smooth.

Transcript

00:00It's going to be very busy this Labor Day weekend.

00:02It's one of those times when not everybody

00:05travels because some kids are in school and some aren't.

00:07But the people who do travel certainly

00:09want to make the most of it.

00:10All right, so you said it's been a record-breaking summer

00:13travel season.

00:14What is AAA predicting for this weekend's air travel?

00:18Well, so our domestic bookings are up 9% over Labor Day

00:22weekend compared to last year.

00:23So more people are traveling not just by air,

00:25but also road trips, cruises, tours, and car rentals.

00:29We look at hotels as well.

00:30We look at all of those categories

00:32and see, OK, are more people traveling or fewer people?

00:35And how much are they paying?

00:37Are they paying more or less?

00:38And what we're finding is that domestic bookings are up.

00:40And the price to travel domestically

00:42is down a bit this year.

00:43So that's some good news.

00:44For people traveling internationally

00:46over Labor Day weekend, they're paying 11% more

00:49than they did last year.

00:50And those international trips are down a bit this year.

00:53But European cities are still very popular

00:55for many Americans.

00:56They've been throughout the whole summer,

00:58and they are this Labor Day weekend.

01:00Here domestically, though, one of the bigger

01:02draws for many people this time of year are Alaska cruises.

01:05Seattle is our top domestic destination because of that.

01:08And then when you look at other parts of the country,

01:10you've got Central Florida for the theme parks,

01:13Southern California, Hawaii is popular,

01:16and then also New York City, Boston, Las Vegas, Denver,

01:19those places that not only have tourist attractions,

01:21but what people do is they fly there, they rent a car,

01:24and then they check out other areas like national parks,

01:26for example, if they go out to Colorado.

01:28So for those heading out on the road,

01:30can you talk about when the worst time to leave is?

01:33And then how about when their trip ends

01:35at the end of the weekend, what the best time to return is?

01:38The afternoon, not only today, Thursday,

01:40but also tomorrow, Friday, are gonna be the worst times

01:43to be on the roads because that's when a lot of people

01:45are leaving work, plus you're mixing with some students

01:47who are getting off school, and then travelers.

01:50And then coming back Sunday and Monday,

01:52again, avoid the afternoon hours.

01:54Traffic builds throughout the day.

01:55And what happens is those interstates get clogged,

01:58especially in that like 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m. window

02:02as people are trying to go back home.

02:03And the thing is, most people wanna stay

02:05as long as possible, so they wanna wait

02:07and not leave their destination till late Monday,

02:10maybe around lunchtime.

02:11But if you wait until lunchtime,

02:13sometimes that's just more headaches later for you.

02:16Aisga Diaz, AAA spokesperson,

02:17we appreciate all the excellent information

02:20ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend.

02:22Thanks so much for being with us.

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