RICHMOND, Va. — The travel experts at AAA predict Friday will be the peak travel day of the 2024 Labor Day Weekend.
They also offered some good news as travel costs have ticked down this year compared to 2023.
The cost of domestic flights is down two percent, compared to last year.
Also, the cost of rental cars is down about 16 percent.
Hotels, on the other hand, are seven percent more expensive this holiday weekend compared to last year.
The TSA predicted 17 million people would fly between the Thursday before Labor Day and the Wednesday after, with Friday being the expected busiest day with 2.86 million people flying to their destinations.
Airports have been extremely busy so far this summer. AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson Morgan Dean suggested you arrive to the airport at least two hours early for domestic flights and at least three hours early for international travel.
He also noted the TSA has seen the 10 busiest days in its history over the past four months.
“There are so many people traveling, if there are some delays and some problems along the way, there may not be many seats for them to get onto another flight,” explained Dean. “We always recommend that folks travel as early in the day as possible. That gives you as many options as possible to get on another flight that day, but you could have some challenges finding another seat out there.”