Independence Day travel: 'It's going to be busy'

The price of travel continues to rise, as demand for travel continues to reach new heights this 4th of July weekend
Airport travels
Photo credit Justin Sullivan - Getty Images

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Independence Day is nearing and AAA of Central and Western New York says it's a very busy time for travel. In addition, the recent country-wide flight cancellations and delays certainly do not help ease the traffic of travel.

"It's going to be a busy weekend in the air and on the roads. AAA booking data reveals that big cities and international classics are top destinations this Independence Day. Air, car rentals, cruise, hotel and tour bookings are up over 60% last year for top domestic destinations this holiday weekend," said Brian Murray, AAA Central and Western New York's Director of Travel.

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"The biggest thing we're seeing is enormous surge in demand for travel this summer. We're talking about revenge travel, everybody wants to get out and travel again. Folks want that kind of travel like they were back in 2019. Airlines do not have enough staff. They've been trying to hire back and they're trying to train up. Between continuing people calling out because of COVID and because of labor issues, they're not getting enough personnel to fly the planes. Training for these folks takes a long time," said Willis Orlando, Senior Products Operations Specialist with Scott's Cheap Flights.

"Staffing is so tight and the airlines are still keeping a lot of planes in the sky. If something goes wrong, there's a storm over Dallas and crew and a pilot goes over hours, it's like a domino effect throughout the entire system. All of a sudden you don't have enough people to fly any of the planes and you've had to make 10, 20, 30 cancellations down the line and it all unravels from there," Orlando added.

As the demand for travel increases, prices of travel has increased as well. AAA has seen an increase in price of flight tickets, coming in at an average of $201 per ticket. There is a significant increase in hotel prices and car rental also.

Hotel rates have increased about 23%, mid-range hotel rates. The average lowest nightly rates are coming in at about $244 per night for AAA approved hotels. We've seen a lot of changes in the car rental climate over the last couple years. Since last year, the average daily rate for car rentals has continued to increase. Prices are higher than in 2019, but a little bit lower from last year in 2021. Many travelers are paying upwards of $110 per day," said Murray.

Willis Orlando says that due to the loss in revenue over the last couple years as a result of the pandemic, some airlines wanted to continue to have as many planes as they could in the sky and not consider the amount of staff they have to fill the planes.

"Over the winter holidays, for example, we saw that there was speaking of cancellations and delays whenever demand surged up and we think it should be pretty obvious to airlines that they've got to either A, higher aggressively and pay these folks with their worth to get them staffing these planes or B, they've got to cut their schedules back dramatically in order to make sure they can staff the planes they have in the sky. They saw this surge in demand and most of the airlines thought, 'We'll cut our schedules as much as we think we can, but we really don't want to miss out on this revenue after two years of losses.' They're paying for it right now and consumers are paying for it right now," said Orlando.

Scheduling seems to be an issue for the big three airlines of United, Delta and American.

"Airlines have struggled last year seems to have learned their lesson and they've scaled back their operations. They've kind of focused on where they know the most profitable routes are. They trimmed or scheduled ahead of time. The big three US airlines, United, Delta and American, came out very aggressive scheduling this summer, and they really seem to have overplayed their hands," said Orlando. "Their networks are so big, you know, one pilot and one plane will maybe be flying four or five, six routes in one day. So if you have a problem at the beginning of the day, that means four or five, six routes are affected as opposed to a Southwest pilot who might just fly two legs and be done for the day. So if something goes wrong, the effect is much more limited."

AAA advises to work with a travel agent no matter what mode of transportation you use to plan your safest route for the holiday weekend and be sure to pack lightly and "pack your patience."

"United Airlines is cutting flights to Newark starting July. That's a feeder airport for international. If a flight is canceled multiple days in advance that gives an opportunity to reroute. If something is canceled while you're at the airport or a couple hours beforehand, that's a little more challenging as flights are full, but the staff at the airports are really working very hard to get people rerouted on another airline as well. If your flight is canceled, you are entitled to a refund for that ticket and then you can purchase a ticket on another carrier if another carrier is available. They're there to help. They want to get people to their destination," said Murray.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan - Getty Images