Labor Day weekend: Gas prices show decrease from last year as air travel expected to break records
Rachel Schilke
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Those on the road for Labor Day weekend travel should expect busy conditions and slightly lower gas prices compared to last year.
Gas prices stand at an average of $3.77 per gallon nationally as of Friday morning, per GasBuddy. This is down 3 cents from last year. However, air travel numbers are projected to break records, with over 14 million people expected to fly between Friday and next Wednesday despite a recent hurricane and tropical depression in the southeast.
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GasBuddy warned travelers to be cost-conscious when crossing state lines as they travel. Prices near these boundaries “often become much more volatile. Shopping around before crossing state lines can save motorists 25-50 cents per gallon in some situations.”
Robert Sinclair Jr., senior manager of public affairs for AAA Northeast, told CBS New York that roads will be busiest from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday.
The Transportation Security Administration announced on Thursday that airports expect to screen 14.25 million people between Friday and next Wednesday, an 11% increase from this time last year.
Airfare for domestic flights this year costs an average of $226 per ticket, down 11% from last year and down 20% from Labor Day in 2019, according to Hopper, a travel destination site.
Labor Day, which is on Sept. 4, comes after Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday before decreasing to a tropical depression as it traveled over Georgia that evening.
Millions were placed under a severe weather watch in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
Several airports closed on Wednesday ahead of Idalia’s landfall, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Tallahassee, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Airlines canceled over 1,000 flights.
Many said they would reopen after assessing the damage caused by the storm and told customers they could possibly reschedule flights after Thursday.
Tampa International Airport reopened incoming flights on Wednesday afternoon, followed by outbound service on Thursday.
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“TPA is fortunate to have avoided the worst effects of such a dangerous storm, after acting in an abundance of caution to protect the safety of our passengers, employees, and facilities,” airport chief executive Joe Lopano said in a statement via the Washington Post.
More than 250,000 flights are scheduled through Tuesday, according to the FAA. International bookings are up 44%, according to AAA data. Demand for hotel rooms overseas is up more than 80%, and overseas cruise bookings are up 40%, Sinclair said.