Busy travel weekend expected for 4th of July
From the airports to the interstates, travelers are getting out of town for the July 4th weekend.
“We’ll be boating and they have a pool and a lot of outdoor water activities,” said Debbie Thompson.
She and her husband flew from Pittsburgh to Georgia to meet up with some friends.
They’re among the anticipated 47.9 million people traveling at least 50 miles from home this weekend. That’s a 3.7% increase over last year, according to AAA.
But the Thompsons have been flying on this weekend for each of the last 13 years and say Friday’s airport crowds seemed lighter than years’ past.
“Just coming in, for what I’ve seen, [it’s] less busy,” said Debbie Thompson.
Travel experts with AAA expected that.
They’re forecasting the lowest number of July 4th weekend air travelers since 2011, due in part to the price of lowest-cost airline tickets costing 14% more this year and so many delays and cancellations.
Janet Beasock saw that firsthand Thursday when her family’s flight to Savannah, Georgia was canceled.
“We just came back and come up and hopefully we’re going to try again,” she said Friday morning. “We lost a day and we can’t even get a rental car now, it’s like $700 for one day.”
With the unpredictability of air travel, some people are opting to hit the road instead, even despite elevated gas prices.
Friday is expected to be the PA Turnpike’s busiest day of the weekend, with more than 700,000 vehicles.
“Luckily we can afford it, but I feel bad for the people that want to travel and can’t,” said Matthew Cohen.
He and his wife and son traveled the Turnpike as part of their trip from Cleveland to Virginia.
“I just feel lucky and hope that people can still enjoy themselves even with the gas prices being where they are,” he said.
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