Prepare for travel chaos on Memorial Day weekend when more than 42 MILLION Americans travel

The nation is bracing for Memorial Day mayhem as more than 42 million Americans are ready to take to the roads, tracks and skies over the long weekend.

Seventy-six flights within, to or from the US had already been canceled at noon, and another 1,500 suffered delays.

Rising airfare costs have not deterred the 3.4 million expected to fly, an 11 percent increase from last year and even a 5.4 percent increase from 2019 figures. before the pandemic, AAA said.

Airports are expected to have their busiest Memorial Day weekend since 2005. Until now, roads were still not flexing under the stress of Friday morning, but the holiday stampede will begin in earnest after it’s over the working day.

Although gasoline prices remain high, they are well below last year’s level, with an average national price of $3.53 per gallon compared to $4.60 in May 2022, encouraging 37.1 million to travel by car

The greatest congestion on the roads is expected to begin this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. and continue until 6:00 p.m., according to AAA.

Large crowds were photographed making their way through the Orlando airport on Friday morning.

Márquez Griffin, vice president of airport operations, told My News 13 that the growing crowds were “pushing our capacity back to the limit.”

Airports have been forced to brace for increased demand, with Delta reporting last month that its international flights were already 75 percent booked for the summer.

Delta anticipates carrying 2.8 million customers over Memorial Day weekend alone, an increase of more than 17 percent from 2022, and expects “loads to be high” during the holiday travel period. .

The industry expects there will still be pent-up demand for travel after the years of disruption during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ed Bastian, Delta’s chief executive, told CBS that “the planes are full, people are happy to come back to get their life and their joy back, and I don’t see that changing.”

“Travel is something that people are prioritizing.”

American Airlines also expects to carry 2.9 million passengers and will operate 26,637 flights over the weekend.

Chicago alone is expected to have more than 1.56 million travelers between Thursday and Tuesday, an increase of 7.7 percent from last year.

Two million Illinoisans will travel more than 50 miles from home, Fox32 reported.

This year, 2.7 million more people are expected to travel compared to last year, an increase of 7 percent over 2022.

1.85 million people are expected to take a bus or train, an increase of 20.6 percent compared to last year.

The travel association projects it to be the third busiest Memorial Day weekend since 2000.