Memorial Day: People gear up for holiday weekend
Memorial Day: Airport busy amid long weekend start
Memorial Day is the unofficial kickoff to summer travel, and AAA expects 3.61 million people to fly during this holiday weekend. FOX 10's Kenzie Beach has more, from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
PHOENIX - For many Americans, May 23 is the start of the long Memorial Day holiday weekend, and millions of Americans are expected to travel.
What we know:
According to the Associated Press, AAA predicted that over 45 million people would venture at least 50 miles from their homes between Thursday and Monday.
The travel numbers, as predicted, mark an increase of 1.4 million from 2024. The holiday’s previous domestic travel record of 44 million was set 20 years ago.
AAA officials said similar to 2024, about 87% of travelers will drive to their Memorial Day destinations.
While the AAA is not expecting the holiday weekend to break records, an analysis by an aviation data provider found 6% more bookings across almost two dozen U.S. airports, when compared to 2024.
Local perspective:
At Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, it was definitely busy on Friday, as people fly in and out of the Valley.
"Off to Pebble Beach to play a little golf, and I'm very excited!" said one person who was on their way out of Phoenix.
Lines at Sky Harbor and other airports reflect the fact that this is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
"We knew it's going to be very busy, so we came here extra early," said Linda McDonald.
"It was crazy," said Karen Reynolds, who is visiting Phoenix from Cincinnati, Ohio. We left Cincinnati this morning, and the line was out the front door, general security. I did not anticipate this at all."
"We knew it was going to be a busy day, but it was going to be busy no matter what because we had all our little ones with us," said Danielle Rockstroh.
This is also the first major holiday following the implementation of Real ID requirements for flying. Meanwhile, airport officials say people should arrive extra early, and be patient.