As the famous Southwest Airlines slogan goes, "Wanna Get Away?" Apparently, Americans do...a lot. This summer is shaping up to set all-time records for total travel and air travel by Americans. AAA is projecting a record 70.9 million Americans will get away over the Fourth of July holiday period, including 5.7 million who will fly to their destinations. Both of those numbers are well above pre-pandemic levels. Just last Sunday, the TSA reported its busiest single day ever for passenger screenings.
The surge in air travel is happening despite continued concerns about inflation and a recent string of airline safety incidents that left some passengers skittish. "Flight prices have actually stabilized a bit domestically, so we're now back where we were pre-COVID," says Clint Henderson, travel expert with the Points Guy in an interview with Fox News. "And then hotel prices have really skyrocketed, but still there's record-breaking demand."
"And now we've got the return of business travelers, so it's leisure and business, and that means a record breaking summer."
This record breaking summer is a continuation of a three-year trend in travel that has withstood high prices, mass delays, high wait times, and safety incidents. "During the pandemic, people were cooped up at home and were like, what do I want to do when this is over, and what they decided is I want to travel, I don't care how much it costs," says Henderson. "And so these numbers are really remarkable, considering how high prices are, especially for things like gas and food."
"But people don't care," he continues. "They are going to go travel, come heck or high water."