NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas said estimates are that a lot more people will be traveling for the holiday weekend.
A lot of people like to cap off a nice summer with a last hurrah, if you will, last three-day weekend for a while. So AAA's projecting overall domestic travel over Labor Day weekend to be up 9% compared to last year, while the cost of travel domestically is down 2%. Some of these lower costs this year are being led by airfare, which is down 2% from last year, and rental cars, which are down 16% in price. Gas prices are also significantly lower, about 50 cents a gallon less than a year ago today.
The 4th of July period saw record numbers of people take to the skies and air travel will still be strong for Labor Day.
"Airlines have been busy all summer," Steward said. "We've seen just a large increase in addition to domestic airfares being cheaper this holiday. International flights are also 8% less expensive than last year, and we've really seen a record-breaking air travel summer. TSA's top 10 busiest travel days in the agency's history have all occurred this year since May 2024. So, that's pretty incredible, and they're expecting the peak travel day for this coming holiday to be Friday, August 30th, when they expect to screen 2.86 million people."
If you are driving to your destination, be sure that your car is ready for the trip.
"Pay special attention to those tires, like you mentioned, the tread, and make sure that they're properly aired up," Don't forget about your spare tire if your vehicle has one. Check your battery as well. That's another big failure point that we see this time of year. Last Labor Day weekend, in fact, AAA Emergency Roadside Service crews responded to more than 1,350 calls for assistance across Kansas. We want to make sure that you aren't spending your holiday weekend stuck on the side of the road. Get your car in and get it fully checked out."
If you need more travel information, go to AAA.com.