'Patience is required,' Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas warns travelers who will be hitting U.S. airports over Memorial Day weekend.
AAA expects a 60% jump in travel over the 2020 Memorial Day weekend, with 37 million Americans traveling at least 50 miles from home, most of them in cars. That’s despitein seven years: The national average is above $3 a gallon for regular.
“My mother-in-law called me on a vacation and said, ‘Hey, can you get me a rental car?’ I said, ‘No,’” said Jordan Staab, president of SmarterTravel Media. “Demand is up 500% since January, and it’s tough to get a rental car right now, so plan ahead as much as you possibly can.” That’s not stopping people from getting on planes. The Transportation Security Administration has screened nearly 1.6 million people a day this month, up from 224,000 a day in May 2020 but still down one-third from the same time in 2019. TSA officials said this week they have hired enough new screeners to handle the crowds.