Labor Day weekend is right around the corner, so now might be a good time to review best practices when taking a trip to a new locale.
Labor Day weekend travel will be up over last year as domestic flight bookings are up 4% and international bookings are up a whopping 44%, according to AAA.
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“Most travelers will leave on Thursday or Friday before Labor Day to take advantage of the long holiday weekend,” said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel. “Domestically, the Pacific Northwest, big cities like New York and Denver, and tourist hotspots like Orlando and Las Vegas are the most popular. Internationally, it’s all about Europe and Canada.”
But for Americans hitting the road this year, memories of bumper-to-bumper Labor Day weekend traffic in the past can be haunting. But Hayley Berg, chief economist for travel booking website Hopper, says that this year a popular worker trend could alleviate some of the gridlock associated with this weekend.
"We're absolutely seeing remote work flexibility affecting travel patterns, and not just in driving, but also in flying and hotel stays. We've heard from many sources that traffic patterns into and out of cities has completely changed. Mondays and Fridays are not big traffic days because most people who can work remote, are," Berg said.
As for how remote work affects flights and hotel bookings, Berg says that the company has seen "huge increases" in travelers leaving for holiday weekends like this one on Wednesday night or coming back on a Monday morning as opposed to the traditional leave-on-Friday-and-return-on-Sunday schedule most Americans are used to.
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"Those days are typically less expensive, so the flexibility that remote work is giving travelers is allowing them not to only beat the crowds, it's also allowing them to tap into lower prices that are available on those lower-demand travel or departure dates," Berg said.
So what advice would Berg give for the tens of millions of people hitting the road, skies and rails to travel this weekend?
"It pays to get up early for a flight. Not only are you going to see shorter lines for those very early 6 AM to 8 AM departures, but you're less likely to be disrupted... if you can depart before 8 AM, you're about 50% less likely to be delayed than you are later in the day," Berg said.
Check out the full interview below to find out how flexible airport passengers can make money from the expected travel gridlock this weekend.
"It pays to get up early for a flight. Not only are you going to see shorter lines, but you're less likely to be disrupted," says @hopper Chief Economist @hayley_berg_. "If you can depart before 8am, you're about 50% less likely to be delayed than you are later in the day." pic.twitter.com/MmLSv4qf5D
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) August 31, 2023
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