Aixa Diaz of AAA expects a busy weekend of travel for millions of people for Labor Day. She offers some tips to make the holiday travel safe and smooth.
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00:00It's going to be very busy this Labor Day weekend.
00:02It's one of those times when not everybody
00:05travels because some kids are in school and some aren't.
00:07But the people who do travel certainly
00:09want to make the most of it.
00:10All right, so you said it's been a record-breaking summer
00:13travel season.
00:14What is AAA predicting for this weekend's air travel?
00:18Well, so our domestic bookings are up 9% over Labor Day
00:22weekend compared to last year.
00:23So more people are traveling not just by air,
00:25but also road trips, cruises, tours, and car rentals.
00:29We look at hotels as well.
00:30We look at all of those categories
00:32and see, OK, are more people traveling or fewer people?
00:35And how much are they paying?
00:37Are they paying more or less?
00:38And what we're finding is that domestic bookings are up.
00:40And the price to travel domestically
00:42is down a bit this year.
00:43So that's some good news.
00:44For people traveling internationally
00:46over Labor Day weekend, they're paying 11% more
00:49than they did last year.
00:50And those international trips are down a bit this year.
00:53But European cities are still very popular
00:55for many Americans.
00:56They've been throughout the whole summer,
00:58and they are this Labor Day weekend.
01:00Here domestically, though, one of the bigger
01:02draws for many people this time of year are Alaska cruises.
01:05Seattle is our top domestic destination because of that.
01:08And then when you look at other parts of the country,
01:10you've got Central Florida for the theme parks,
01:13Southern California, Hawaii is popular,
01:16and then also New York City, Boston, Las Vegas, Denver,
01:19those places that not only have tourist attractions,
01:21but what people do is they fly there, they rent a car,
01:24and then they check out other areas like national parks,
01:26for example, if they go out to Colorado.
01:28So for those heading out on the road,
01:30can you talk about when the worst time to leave is?
01:33And then how about when their trip ends
01:35at the end of the weekend, what the best time to return is?
01:38The afternoon, not only today, Thursday,
01:40but also tomorrow, Friday, are gonna be the worst times
01:43to be on the roads because that's when a lot of people
01:45are leaving work, plus you're mixing with some students
01:47who are getting off school, and then travelers.
01:50And then coming back Sunday and Monday,
01:52again, avoid the afternoon hours.
01:54Traffic builds throughout the day.
01:55And what happens is those interstates get clogged,
01:58especially in that like 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m. window
02:02as people are trying to go back home.
02:03And the thing is, most people wanna stay
02:05as long as possible, so they wanna wait
02:07and not leave their destination till late Monday,
02:10maybe around lunchtime.
02:11But if you wait until lunchtime,
02:13sometimes that's just more headaches later for you.
02:16Aisga Diaz, AAA spokesperson,
02:17we appreciate all the excellent information
02:20ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
02:22Thanks so much for being with us.