Here’s What Travelers Need to Know Before Their Memorial Day and Summer Trips 

Memorial Day is fast approaching, and it looks like it’s going to be a busy one. AAA’s predictions come out next week but according to TripIt from Concur, reservations are up 207% for domestic flights, 466% for international flights (!!!), 191% for car rentals, 184% for lodging, and 134% for vacation rentals compared to 2021.

Here’s what travelers need to know before their trip: 

• Friday, May 27 will be the busiest day for flight departures, but nearly as many will depart Thursday, May 26.
• The busiest airports (and departure times on 5/27) will be SFO (8am and 10am), LAX (8am and 1pm), DEN (11am and 12pm), ORD (8am and 7am), and JFK (8am and 7pm).
• The top flight destinations are 1) Orlando, 2) Denver, 3) New York, 4) Las Vegas, 5) London, 6) Chicago, 7) San Francisco, 8) Boston, 9) Los Angeles, and 10) Seattle.
• The most popular rental car destinations will be 1) Denver, 2) San Francisco, 3) Orlando, 4) Kahului, 5) Boston, 6) Las Vegas, 7) Honolulu, 8) Los Angeles, 9) Phoenix, and 10) Chicago.

And according to Hopper’s latest Consumer Airfare Index:

Travelers expect to pay this amount for their summer trips:
Domestic airfare: Averaging $383 round-trip for summer, up over 34% vs 2019
International airfare: Averaging just over $900 round-trip for summer, up only 2% vs 2019
Hotels: Averaging $154 per night for summer, up 36% vs 2019
Car rentals: Averaging ~$60/day for summer, up about 20% vs January 2022

Where are people going this summer according to Hopper’s data?
Domestic: Major cities like (#1) Las Vegas, (#2) Miami, (#3) Denver
International: Short-haul flights from the US, including (#1) Cancun, (#2) San Juan, (#3) Mexico City

There’s no doubt it’s going to be a busy Memorial Day and summer in terms of travel so here’s my advice for minimizing the chaos and here’s how to find cheap flights.