Memorial Day weekend turned out to be a chaotic one for the travel industry. According to FlightAware, nearly 7,000 flights were canceled due to bad weather and staff shortages. Meanwhile, on the road, gas prices reached record levels with the national average for a gallon of gas hitting $4.62. Travel expert Jeanenne Tornatore breaks down what the Memorial Day mess means for the rest of the summer travel season. "There's always some weather happening this time of year, but the big thing really was the staff shortages, the pilot shortages more specifically," she said. "And as we know, our airline system is so tightly connected."

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What to Expect This Summer Travel Season After Memorial Day Mess

So here to break down this Memorial Day messes, Janine Turner tour travel expert, thank you so much for being here, Janine. Let's jump right in and talk about the airline chaos, all these canceled flights. What happened? Well, look first, I'll tell you that Memorial Day weekend is always a good predictor of what to expect for summer travel. So I don't know if this is gonna mean everyone who's getting on an airplane is gonna have a little anxiety about what's gonna happen this summer. But yeah, we saw thousands of cancelations this weekend. And you kind of said it in the summary, it's, it's always a combination of factors, right? There's always some weather happening this time of year, but the big thing really was the staff shortages, the pilot shortages more specifically. Um, and as we know, our airline system is so tightly connected. So when something happens in one part of the country, you tend to see a ripple effect across the entire system. And so that's really, you know, kind of what happened this weekend and things like staff shortages and pilot shortages aren't going to be something that are remedied overnight. So travelers really should expect more of this as we head into the summer season. Now, one thing that a lot of airlines are starting to do is manage this by cutting some of their summer service, meaning they're decreasing capacity to really try and help improve the operational reliability for their customers. So are you smart enough to stay home this year? And, and do you think that people will also start to stay home more during the summer travel season and just avoid it altogether or suck it up and say, let's just do it. Well, what I can tell you is that there's been so much pent up demand at least at this point, people who have already been planning their summer vacations have had no hesitation in booking airline tickets, hotels. We're seeing that there's a lot of demand, especially in those warm weather, hotspots, florida, the caribbean, Mexico, but really all around the country, national parks as well. So, you know, people are just ready to get back out there. I think a lot of people will be watching very closely as they should to see if their flights will be canceled or you know, proactively changed when some of these capacity changes are made. So as a traveler, that's one thing you definitely want to keep an eye on. All right, well let's talk about the cars, We'll shift gears and talk about cars. You know, did record high gas prices affect America's Memorial Day plans to getting on the road that I definitely didn't want to drive anywhere. You know, it really didn't. Um, you know, we saw packed airports, but I think a lot of people also were saying, gosh, these slight prices are so high that I'm just going to get in the car, but I do think most people stayed regionally. I think that the first summer we're not necessarily going to be seeing me as many of these big RV trips. Cross country. Um, I think we're going to see people looking more at these one tank trips where can they get two in one tank of gas and stay regionally. We are seeing that gas prices are up there continuing to go up and that's just a bit of a wild card I think for this summer. Um, look, there are things you can do when it comes to driving. There's apps and tools out there that if you are taking a road trip can help you find better prices. Gasbuddy ways, google maps can all help you find those cheaper gas prices. Um, also speaking of cars, rental cars, that's been an issue really for the over the last year because of the car shortage. So some of these rental car companies are still seeing high prices this summer. A couple of things to keep in mind there. If you're flying into an airport and you're seeing really high rental car prices at the airport. Look to those rental car options that may be a few miles away, maybe in town or in the city you're going to. And then we're also seeing growing in popularity, some of these consumer peer to peer sharing options like turo, which is one app word you can rent cars from other people. So that can maybe help people offset some of those high rental car prices this summer though, that those are great tips. I will admit that I saved about $1000 during the christmas holiday when I traveled two miles away to get a car instead of the car at the airport because I had it for a whole week and a half and I save tons of money. So just like switching to my car insurance. Alright, let's talk about Memorial Day, traditionally marking the summer starts. So what can we expect? You already said a few things that we can expect for the rest of the summer travel season. But what can travelers expect those airports, Can we expect the same thing we just saw this weekend. Will they get a hold of it? Well, we know that summer is traditionally one of the busiest travel seasons of the year. It we're seeing that uh prices and uh demand is up compared to pre pandemic levels even so I think we should be prepared for busy airports. Some airports, you know, traditionally tell folks to arrive for domestic flights two hours early. We're seeing some airports now even push that recommendation to 2.5 hours early for domestic flights for arrival times. So being prepared I think is the biggest thing, look, if you haven't booked a flight yet, a couple of ways that you can save this summer flexibility is going to be the most important thing, flexibility in your destination and flexibility in the dates that you're going to travel. Even waiting until demand starts to soften later in the summer. I'm talking mid august even into september if you can wait till then you're going to find better prices on your flights, you're going to find less crowds at the airport. Um Also if you're thinking of traveling during this really busy summer travel season and you still need to book your flight, try to book nonstop flights. We all know that connections just means more possibilities of something happening to your flights. If you do have to book a connection, get all of your everything in that carry on bag. The biggest thing when you have a connection, if you're checking a bag, you have to wait for your luggage to arrive somewhere else. If you have it with you, you have the option of maybe getting on a different flight on the fly if something happens to your connection. So those little things can make a big difference in just your experience as you're traveling during a busy season like this. Oh my gosh, you are hitting it a home run with these tips. I love it. Any quick last minute tips. We only have a few seconds left about saving money whether it's at the pump or on airfare. Yeah, I think again, you know flexibility is going to be your biggest thing in addition to if you don't want to wait and look to those late summer times to travel. Look at the off peak travel times, nobody wants to get up and take a five or six a.m. Flight in the morning. Those are where you're going to find. Sometimes better prices, much less crowds at the airport and flights that are already there waiting at the gate. So better on time statistics for those early morning flights if you're traveling this summer. I love it. I love it. Okay, you make me still want to travel this summer with all those great tips. Thank you so much travel expert Janine towards her. We appreciate it.