The Fourth of July holiday weekend is off to a strong start and is expected to be the second busiest since 2000, according to Axios.
The airports have registered an influx not seen since February 2020, hundreds of flights have been canceled and high traffic is expected on the roads.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) registered
more than 2.4 million travelers
at airport checkpoints on Friday, a number not seen since February 11, 2020, before the pandemic began, when 2.5 people registered.
Canceled flights
Airlines
have canceled nearly 600 flights
this Saturday and more than 16,000 delays, according to FlightAware.
Scattered thunderstorms in the New York area, and Tropical Storm Colin in the Carolinas, predicted numbers to rise.
From June 22 to Wednesday, at least 600 flights were canceled and between 4,000 and 7,000 a day were delayed, according to this tracking service.
Airlines across the country are trying to prepare for this weekend's "operational challenges" and have warned travelers to
check the status of their flights before going to the airport.
Some have even encouraged customers to rebook their plans for another weekend.
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Sebastian Modak, general editor of the travel guide publisher Lonely Planet, advises going directly to the airline's help desk, checking their application on the phone and calling the customer service line;
For airlines with two numbers, an international number may be answered sooner than a US number.
Patricia Carreno is one of the thousands of travelers who have been affected during this holiday weekend.
She arrived with friends at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday only to learn that her Alaska Airlines flight to Mazatlan, Mexico, had been canceled.
"We're probably going to drive to Mexico - to Tijuana, the border - and just fly from there," he told The Associated Press news agency.
Airline executives blame the recent spate of canceled flights on the Federal Aviation Administration, which runs the country's air traffic control system, but Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg disputes that claim.
Airlines that offer money
Airlines sometimes overbook flights with the expectation that some passengers will not show up.
When there are more passengers than seats,
airlines offer cash
or travel vouchers to those willing to take the next flight.
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Earlier this week, an Inc. magazine columnist wrote that Delta flight attendants offered $10,000 in cash to people who left a plane waiting to take off from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Delta spokesman Anthony Black would not confirm or deny the reporter's account, but noted that the airline raised the compensation agents can offer in these cases to $9,950 in 2017.
traffic on the roads
To avoid these problems, many have preferred to travel by road, although traffic there is also expected to be heavy.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) predicted that nearly 48 million people will travel at least 50 miles or more from home over the weekend, down slightly from 2019. The AAA said car travel will set a record even with the national median gas price hovering around $5.
