Travelers' patience over the Memorial Day weekend was tested Thursday by widespread delays across the country, but relatively few flights were canceled, raising hopes that airlines will be able to handle the heavy traffic expected on Friday.
More than 6,000 flights were delayed on the East Coast by Thursday evening, with the biggest congestion at three major airports in the New York City area and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
The Transportation Security Administration predicts Friday will be the busiest day for air travel over the holiday weekend, with about 3 million people expected to pass through airport checkpoints — a figure that could match last year's record of 2.9 million the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
“The airport will be the most congested in 20 years,” said AAA spokeswoman Aisha Diaz.
Travelers report being surprised at the high prices when they don't have to wait for delayed flights.
Larissa Latimer of New Lenox, Illinois, said at Chicago's O'Hare Airport that while the airfare was reasonable, other costs of traveling to New Orleans were not.
“Just trying to come up with the cost of accommodation,” she said. “Car rentals are so expensive. Hotels have been crazy expensive this year.”
Kathy Larko of Fort Myers, Florida, used her frequent flyer program and a flexible schedule to pay for her trip to Chicago.
“I'm watching the overall cost of my trip closely, staying a little further out than usual to keep hotel costs down,” she says, “and taking a return flight a day later so I can earn miles more cheaply.”
More people will travel by car: AAA estimates that 43.8 million people will travel at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home between Thursday and Monday, with 38 million of them travelling by car.
Airport unions are using the holiday weekend to press their demands.
About 100 workers, including plane cleaners and garbage truck drivers at Charlotte, North Carolina, airport, began a 24-hour strike on Thursday to demand higher wages and better health care, the Service Employees International Union said. About 15% of flights were delayed, but it was unclear whether the strike had any impact.
But a planned strike at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport was averted: Teamsters Local 553, which represents about 300 workers who refuel passenger and cargo planes at JFK, announced it had reached a settlement with Allied Aviation Services and called off a strike that had been scheduled for Friday.
“We are pleased that an agreement was reached and the need for a strike was averted, and we hope that our members will ratify the agreement,” said Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer of the local chapter.
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Associated Press videojournalist Melissa Perez Winder in Chicago and Associated Press radio reporter Shelley Adler in Washington contributed to this report.
