45 million people projected to travel for Memorial Day

AccuWeather

AAA says a record 45.1 million people will be traveling for Memorial Day. This will be the busiest weekend of travel for this holiday in 20 years. Kellan Howell shares what's driving the high numbers.

Transcript

00:00AAA is projecting a record-breaking 45.1 million Americans will travel over this Memorial Day

00:08weekend. That's the most in 20 years. Yeah, and with more people hitting the road and skies,

00:14what can travelers expect? Joining us now is Kellen Howell from AAA. Thanks for joining us

00:21here on AccuWeather Early. And of course, AAA is forecasting the busiest Memorial Day travel

00:27weekend in 20 years. What's driving the surge in travel? Well, good morning and thanks for having

00:33me. That's right. We're looking at not just a 20-year record, but actually this is the highest

00:38number that we have forecasted in the 25 years that AAA has been doing this Memorial Day forecast. So

00:44definitely expecting very busy roads. The majority of folks taking trips this Memorial Day weekend

00:50are going to be going on road trips, going at least 50 miles away from home. We're looking at about

00:5639 million people traveling by car. So definitely a lot of people getting out there, taking those

01:03trips. You know, people are eager to get out, spend time with family, take advantage of that time off

01:09from work, that time off that their kids might have from school. And maybe they're sticking a little bit

01:14closer to home, you know, doing things like just taking a day trip to the beach, going to visit

01:18friends. But this record-breaking number is really, you know, indicating to us that people are

01:24prioritizing getting out there and making those memories, having that time with their friends

01:29and their family. And so people are really motivated to travel, even if they are doing something as

01:34simple as a day trip. It doesn't have to be super expensive or super extravagant. I love that. I mean,

01:39that's a positive. But with more than 39 million Americans expected to drive, as you mentioned,

01:43what's the outlook for gas prices and then road congestion? Well, an added bonus for people this

01:49Memorial Day weekend is that gas prices are cheaper than they typically are this time of year.

01:55Right now, the national average is about $3.18 a gallon, and that's 40 cents cheaper than what we saw

02:01this time last year. So it might not be a motivating factor for people. You know, people are going to

02:06take trips usually regardless of what the gas prices are. But it's certainly an added bonus for people

02:12that it's going to be make it a little bit cheaper to travel by road this holiday.

02:17Yeah, sorry, we're watching the video of two cars merging.

02:20Yeah, then that's always be careful out on the roads. But what about those that are traveling by

02:25air? What do they need to know about prices, delays or avoiding headaches at the airport?

02:33Yes, it's definitely also going to be a busy weekend at the airports. AAA is forecasting about

02:393.61 million traveling by air over Memorial Day. So expect, you know, possibly some longer lines at

02:47TSA. Definitely a good tip is to just have a backup plan, get there early, be prepared for the

02:53possibility of delays at the airport or cancellations. A really good way to avoid that if you haven't

02:59already booked your travel is to try to book flights that are leaving earlier in the morning,

03:04because those flights are going to be less prone to that sort of domino effect when things start

03:09getting delayed and canceled. And if you're looking to save a little bit of money, if you're traveling,

03:14a really easy way to do that is to bring your own food. You know, you can't take liquids through TSA,

03:20but you can take snacks. And so we know airport food can be a lot more expensive than if you just

03:25pack your own sandwich, pack your own snacks, and take those with you on your trip.

03:29I'm a big snack packer now that I have a toddler even more, but it's mostly for me.

03:34All right, for people driving over the holiday weekend, this is my favorite that you guys do.

03:37What are the best and worst times to be on the road?

03:41Best time to be on the road is going to be earlier in the morning. The earlier you can leave,

03:45the better, because we're predicting that congestion is going to just continue to get worse throughout

03:49the day, starting in the afternoon. So you definitely, if you can, want to avoid leaving

03:55later in the day, because that's going to lead to, you know, a much slower commute time for you or

04:00a slower travel time. So earlier, the better. All right. And great, great tips. As always,

04:08everybody be safe traveling over the next few days. I'm Kelly Howell with AAA. Thanks again for

04:13joining us on AccuWeather Early, and we hope that you do something enjoyable this Memorial Day weekend.

04:18Thank you. You as well.

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