With Labor Day almost here, many across the United States are looking to take one last vacation before the summer officially ends.
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However, travelers should prepare for a busy holiday weekend, including full flights.
Despite concerns surrounding the COVID delta variant, experts tell Good Morning America that many continue to travel. Data from TripIt, shows 2021 bookings for domestic flights are 53% compared to statistics from 2019.
“Mid-July was incredibly strong for bookings, and we’re expecting Labor Day to be very similar in that regard,” Adit Damodaran, an economist at Hopper, an online booking platform, said. “We’re already seeing really high searches for Labor Day weekend. And in comparison to mid-July, it’s very similar.”
Hopper reported the popular destinations for Labor Day weekend had been Denver, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. However, for international travel, travelers mostly go to the Caribbean and Mexico.
“That seems to suggest that travelers have started feeling more comfortable going to places like Mexico and the Caribbean,” Damodaran said. “It’s just a shift away from that transatlantic travel that we saw over the summer, but I still think we’re seeing travelers feeling comfortable traveling internationally as long as it’s close to home.”
Scott Keyes, the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, said the amount of people traveling to Mexico from the United States is 10% higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think you’re going to see a continued surge and excitement for flights to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo -- those sort-of-relaxing and resort-type destination favorites for American travelers,” Keyes said.
Research shows that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Chicago-O’Hare International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport are expected to be the busiest airports over the holiday weekend.
When traveling, Keyes said travelers should expect their flights to be packed.
“Expect fuller planes, expect some long lines at the airport for the TSA security check, and plan to get there a little bit earlier in order to make sure you don’t have any hiccups and miss your flight,” he added.
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