Many travelers are excited when Memorial Day Weekend finally arrives, as it’s the unofficial kickoff to summer vacation season. But actually being in the airport during the holiday weekend can be a less thrilling prospect, with crowded terminals and delayed flights.
Fortunately, travel experts at NerdWallet have released a new report to help airline passengers find the sweet spots over the long weekend when airports might be less congested.
Looking at the past three years of TSA checkpoint data for the six days before and the six days after Memorial Day, the report identified the most and least crowded days at US airports over the holiday travel period.
For the past three years, the Friday before Memorial Day was the most crowded day to fly before the holiday, with an average of 2.69 million passengers boarding planes that day. For return travel, the Sunday following the holiday was the busiest day at airports after Memorial Day; an average of 2.62 million passengers took to the skies on that following Sunday over the study’s three-year period.
On the flip-side, the least crowded day to fly before Memorial Day was the Saturday before the holiday, with a three-year average of 2.21 million people flying that day. The data showed that the least busy day to fly after Memorial Day was the Saturday following the holiday, when the average number of fliers hits 2.21 million again.
So, according to the data, a Saturday-to-Saturday Memorial Day flight itinerary could be worth booking for a calmer airport experience.
“If you work a standard Monday-to-Friday workweek and have the holiday off, then leaving Friday after work and returning the Sunday after Memorial Day might make sense if you're trying to maximize your vacation days,” NerdWallet’s report says. “It would give you eight full days of vacation, and you'll only need to request five days of vacation time.”
Other quiet days to fly around the holiday weekend include the Tuesday before Memorial Day, which has an average of 2.25 million passengers, and the Wednesday after Memorial Day, which has an average of 2.24 million fliers.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
