Labor Day travel increase expected with cheaper gas and flights

With gas and airfare prices down from 2023, transportation agencies and experts predict this Labor Day weekend will be an even busier travel holiday than last year.

On Long Island, gas costs have decreased 46 cents per gallon on average from $3.82 this time last year to $3.36, according to AAA, which monitors traffic and travel trends.

Following busier Memorial Day and Fourth of July holiday weekends compared with 2023, Robert Sinclair Jr., AAA's senior manager of public affairs, expects Labor Day weekend travel to be busier because prices at the gas pump are "significantly cheaper this year compared to last."

Analysts have attributed the lower gas prices at least, in part, to fewer refinery outages as well as decreased demand, according to news reports.

Travelers can also take to the skies for less than they could last Labor Day. Domestic flights are 2% cheaper than last year, averaging $780 per round trip, according to Sinclair. International airfares are 8% less than a year ago, averaging $1,370 for a round trip.

The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen more than 17 million air travelers from Thursday through Wednesday, which the agency said will break previous Labor Day records, capping a historically busy summer.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the region's largest airports, predicts a 3% increase from last year’s record-setting Labor Day travel, with approximately 2.5 million passengers traveling through Kennedy, Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and New York Stewart airports during the holiday period, according to a news release.

With high travel volume, the Port Authority anticipates longer wait times and urged passengers to arrive at airports at least two hours in advance of their departure time for domestic flights and three hours for international flights.

For those who need to borrow a set of wheels for traveling, rental car rates fell 16% compared with last year, according to AAA.

Nearly five million vehicles are expected to pass through and over MTA facilities from Thursday to Monday, a projected 3% increase from last year, according to AAA. Bridges and tunnels will see 60,000 crossings every hour between 3 and 6 p.m. Thursday and 2 and 6 p.m. Friday. If last year's patterns hold true, the agency predicts the busiest bridge will be the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, bearing more than 1.1 million vehicles, followed by the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge at over 950,000 automobiles and the Whitestone at nearly 750,000 vehicles.

AAA expects the worst of the holiday traffic congestion on Thursday and Friday from 1-7:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8-11 a.m.

"Rather than slog in the traffic the night before, go home, get a good night's sleep and leave real early in the morning, like 6 a.m.," Sinclair advised.

Before hitting the road, Sinclair advises drivers to inspect their vehicles. Last Labor Day weekend, he said AAA responded to 292,929 breakdowns nationwide. This year, he expects a 3% increase in breakdown calls.

"A lot of people are neglecting vehicle maintenance and it winds up with more people stranded on the side of the road," he said. "That’s certainly inconvenient on the holiday weekend, but it’s also extremely dangerous."