The Days Are Just Packed by Bill Watterson

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the government will hold airlines responsible to treat passengers fairly when the carriers cause cancellations or long delays. It also said airlines are taking longer to recover from disruptions such as storms. In a report released last month, the Government Accountability Office blamed airlines for an increase in flight cancellations as travel recovered from the pandemic.

“It’s going to be a solid summer for us,” Seymour said. Travel company Expedia said larger inventories let the companies rent more cars at lower prices.ĭavid Seymour, the chief operating officer of American Airlines, said his staff has fine-tuned a system it uses to predict the impact of storms on major airports and devise a plan for recovering from disruptions. Renting a car is also cheaper than a year ago, when some popular destinations ran out of vehicles. There is a bit of good news for drivers, however: The national average for a gallon of regular was $3.56 at midweek, down from $4.60 at this time last year, according to AAA. And the average daily rate for other short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Vrbo rose to $316 last month, up 1.4% from a year ago, according to AirDNA, which tracks the industry. hotel room last week was $157 a night, up from $150 in the same week last year, according to hotel data provider STR.

The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 10 million travelers between Friday and Monday, a 14% increase over the holiday in 2022 and slightly more than in 2019. airports hit pandemic-era highs last weekend, and those records are almost certain to be broken over the Memorial Day holiday.ĪAA predicts that 37 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home this weekend, an increase of more than 2 million from Memorial Day last year but still below pre-pandemic numbers in 2019. “We just had to grit our teeth,” said Hanrahan, a writer and speaker who also runs a nonprofit, as she and daughter Campbell waited for their flight last week at Dallas Love Field. Instead, it ended up costing the same as the Dallas-area family's trip for four to California last summer, so now her husband and son are staying home. Stephanie Hanrahan thought she'd save money by planning ahead for her daughter's birthday trip to Disney World in Florida.

Others are finding different money-saving sacrifices. Some travelers say they will settle for fewer trips than they hoped to take, or they will drive instead of fly. The unofficial start of the summer travel season is here, with airlines hoping to avoid the chaos of last year and travelers scrounging for ways to save a few bucks on pricey airfares and hotel rooms.

The Days Are Just Packed by Bill Watterson