Record travel expected this Memorial Day Weekend for Texans

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – This Memorial Day Holiday Weekend is expected to be a busy one for Texans.

AAA Texas projects 3.6 million travelers in Texas, the highest since 2000, a 4.2 percent increase from last year. In addition, they expect 38 million will travel by car over the weekend nationally.

In addition, US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg says they’re expecting more people to fly this year than last, once again testing the system.

AAA urges drivers to put safety first.

“Make sure your fluid levels are topped off, replace those windshield wiper blades if they are streaking, you know they get brittle here in the heat from the summer,” said Doug Shupe with AAA Texas.

Inspect tires. Tread helps keep traction on wet pavement.

For those flying, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg says they’ve taken a number of steps to improve and increase passengers’ rights.

“I want to make sure passengers know that we have taken a number of steps to improve and increase passengers rights. We’ve put a lot of pressure on airlines. We’ve issued new rules, including making sure that you can get your money back more easily if an airline lets you down. And I would strongly encourage those who are flying to go to FlightRights.Gov. That’s a website we’ve set up to make clear exactly what you can expect and how airlines will take care of you if you run into a problem. Well, we saw major flight cancelations and delays in 2022. Two years ago, we responded by putting a lot of pressure on airlines to improve their performance. And that’s why last year we saw the lowest rate of flight cancelations in a decade,” said Buttigieg.

He says there was record-breaking travel last year and are expecting more travelers this year.

“I think records will be broken across many travel holidays, potentially even including this upcoming Memorial Day weekend. So it’ll be another test of the system. We continue to press the airlines to do everything they can to get people to where they’re going on time. And this is one of the reasons why the Biden infrastructure package put so many dollars into our airports themselves,” said Buttigieg.

“We’re upgrading everything from behind the scenes, things like the power plants that keep airlines up, airports up and running to things like those jet bridges that used to get on to a plane. Growing the capacity of our airports to make sure that it corresponds to the growth in passenger numbers that we’re seeing across the country.”

Since we’re expected to break a record this holiday weekend, AAA is expecting to see a very busy summer.

“Typically the Memorial Day holiday is very indicative of what is to come. And so since we’re breaking a record this holiday weekend, we are expecting to see a very busy travel season. And that’s why we are reminding people if you haven’t booked your vacation plans for June, July or August, you want to go ahead and get those booked right away because of the reduced capacity and availability,” said Shupe.

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