It may be the end of summer, but Dallas travelers are still looking for one last vacation before school kicks into full gear.
The Transportation Security Administration is preparing for the busiest Labor Day travel period on record, with over 17 million people screened from Thursday to Wednesday nationally. Friday is when TSA expects the most passengers to be screened, 2.86 million people.
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“People are traveling more than ever this summer and TSA along with our airline and airport partners stand ready to close the busiest summer travel period on record during this upcoming Labor Day weekend,” said David Pekoske, TSA administrator.
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Costs have cooled down this year over holiday periods, too. Airfares to Dallas are averaging $180 per round-trip ticket and domestic airfares leaving Dallas average $194 round-trip. Hayley Berg, lead economist at travel app Hopper, said airlines no longer have more demand than seats available to book, which led to lower airfares.
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“Capacity for Labor Day is only up 2.4% compared to the entire month of July, for example, which was up 6%,” Berg said. “They’re paring back some of this, but I wouldn’t be nervous about that. It’s not going to result in an immediate increase in prices.”
In 2022, she explained, there was too much demand and not enough seats to book. Airlines overcorrected, and now there’s been competition between traditional air carriers and low-cost carriers, driving prices even lower.
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Looking ahead to the second half of 2024, she said, the “final correction” will occur, where airlines return to a more traditional, slower increase in capacity.
“Going forward, consumers are behaving more similar to how they did pre-pandemic, with their booking advances, so we’re kind of reaching an equilibrium,” Berg said.
Bank of America Institute reported travel spending growth has also cooled, falling 1.1% year-over-year from January to mid-August. But that doesn’t mean passengers aren’t taking trips. Passenger volumes have reached the highest levels in five years.
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DFW International Airport anticipates 1.4 million passengers from Thursday to Tuesday, up 6.4% from last year’s Labor Day weekend. That’s 9,839 flights to and from the airport during that same time period, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium’s data. Hopper deems it the third-busiest airport over the holiday weekend and the fifth most-booked destination on the app.
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Fort Worth-based American Airlines expects 3.8 million passengers from Thursday to Tuesday, across nearly 36,000 flights. That’s almost 14% more passengers than last year. The airline’s busiest days are Thursday and Friday, when American will offer 6,400 flights each day.
Dallas Love Field has 286,593 seats available that will be leaving and arriving at the North Texas Airport from Thursday to Tuesday, according to Cirium. That’s 1,819 flights departing and arriving, on Southwest Airlines primarily, but also some flights on Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
Southwest expects 1.9 million passengers from Friday to Monday, with Friday and Monday serving as peak days with over 4,100 flights scheduled each day and 565,000 passengers each day.
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Christie Hudson, travel expert with Expedia said her biggest tip for travelers is to try and avoid those peak days.
“Friday and Monday are the times when most people are leaving for the weekend whether they’re going to the airport or hitting the roads,” Hudson said. “On a time-saving standpoint, take off on Thursday if you can.”