Traveling NBA and NHL fans will add to the packed flights over Memorial Day weekend

It’ll be an eventful Memorial Day weekend for sports fans flocking to North Texas to see their team try to get closer to the NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Finals.
Some of those travelers will be flying into Dallas Love Field and DFW International Airport this week to enjoy Dallas-Fort Worth’s tourist attractions and visit American Airlines Center to see the Dallas Stars and the Dallas Mavericks play in their respective conference finals.
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More than 3.6 million travelers will come to Texas this Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA Texas.
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Cirium, the aviation analytics firm, reported 6% more domestic seats are scheduled this holiday weekend, and up 13% this year compared to Mem2019, based on flights departing Friday and returning Monday. Overall, American Airlines has 14% more flights scheduled this year compared to last year, while Southwest is flying about the same schedule.
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Hayley Berg, senior economist at Hopper, the travel booking app, said among Hopper users traveling this Memorial Day weekend, 43% said they plan to fly. Domestic roundtrip airfare out of DFW Airport is averaging $219 this holiday weekend, while out of Love Field, airfares are averaging $426. Both are a dip from last year.
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“We always expect to see disruptions spike during peak travel times like the summer holidays,” Berg said. “In fact, last summer, we saw a 60% increase in delays and cancellations between May and July, affecting millions of summer travelers. Airlines are preparing for the increased capacity, but you can’t predict disruptions but you can plan for them.”
Love Field has 4,324 arrivals and departures scheduled, with 688,238 seats available Friday through Monday. Close to 190,000 travelers are expected to pass through the airport from Friday to Tuesday, according to Love Field. DFW Airport has 22,062 arrivals and departures scheduled, with 3,207,723 seats available.
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According to American, the carriers busiest travel day this week is Thursday, heading into the holiday weekend. The next-busiest is Friday.
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The sports excitement extends to corporate travelers, too. The number of flights booked by business travelers into DFW Airport has risen 15% since the start of the NBA and NHL playoffs, according to an analysis of flight bookings made by business travel firms Corporate Traveler and FCM.
The firms’ analysis found the top departure points for cities flying into the area during the playoff runs have been from Chicago, Boston and Atlanta, to name a few.
Jeff Pelletier, managing director at Airline Data Inc., said airlines need to be sure that they can operate flights with the number of crew members scheduled. He said airlines have been pretty good about that this year.
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He pointed to load factors — the number of seats occupied on the plane — sitting in the mid-90th-percentile range at both Dallas airports between Friday and Tuesday.
“Passengers are going to see full flights and what that means is full flight cancellations,” Pelletier said. “It’s going to be very difficult to reaccommodate passengers on other flights if they’re not able to operate.”
Uncertainty also looms over air travel as major airlines have called on Boeing, the nation’s largest airplane maker, to improve safety and operations after several incidents in recent years. But on the bright side, many labor contracts have been ratified among unions at the major airlines, and airfares are down 2.6% per ticket this Memorial Day weekend compared to last, according to Hopper, the travel app. All this to say, Texans will be traveling this summer at record levels.
“Bucket list trips and solo travel are top travel trends our travel advisors are seeing this year, and 2024 is shaping up to be the busiest year for travel ever,” Galen Grillo, vice president and general manager of AAA Texas, said in a release.