When is Memorial Day? Travel Summer 2024, here's what you need to know about the upcoming holiday weekend

CHICAGO (WLS) — Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer. AAA predicts that 43.8 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more this holiday.

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But what about the rest of the summer? The industry group Airlines for America projects that U.S. airlines will carry 271 million passengers between June 1 and August 31.

This is an increase of more than 6% since the record-breaking year in 2023. But what do travelers find when they go to buy a flight ticket?

“If they plan early, they can help themselves,” said Debbie Haas, AAA's vice president of travel, “because flights are full this summer, and the closest flights are the most expensive. Probably.'' “Another thing they can do is work with a travel advisor, because they have access to inventory that they can't find individually and know how to combine hotels and flights to get extra value. It’s from.”

Ja'Vonne Harley is the owner of Advantage International and host of the radio show Traveling Culturati. Domestically, Chicago is a popular destination, along with Las Vegas and New York, she said.

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International flights are not far behind demand.

“You're talking about London. You're talking about Paris, and of course Rome and Japan,” Hurley said. “Japan's economic reopening after the pandemic was very slow. Japan actually opened in October 2022, so many people are still traveling to Japan. It's only been about a year since reopening. It’s only been a year and a half.”

Some may consider Scandinavia as another destination.

“People are increasingly attracted to Scandinavia, especially in the summer because of the cooler climate,” Haas said.

Hurley added that it's not too late to plan a trip abroad.

“You can still get a great deal now, but don't delay, because not only are we looking at record summer travel numbers, but we're still short about 3,000 air traffic controllers. “We also understand that airlines are restricting some travel because of this.”Therefore, some flights may be short, which is why many flights are already full. Hurley said.