Labor Day weekend travel to rebound to pre-pandemic levels

The number of people traveling for the US Labor Day holiday weekend is expected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels and possibly set new records in some cases, according to several travel companies. US travel demand remains elevated for the final holiday weekend of summer as people are choosing to squeeze in one more trip despite higher airfares and rates, ongoing disruptions to flights and the squeeze on household budgets due to inflation, the travel companies said. "People are not deciding to stay home, they are still going, they are still finding a way to travel," said Paula Twidale, AAA senior vice president of travel. The weekend of Labor Day, which always falls on the first Monday in September, may be tied with Memorial Day weekend as the busiest travel weekend of the summer with flight bookings set to match those of the May holiday, according to travel booking app Hopper. That would allow it to surpass travel volumes of the Fourth of July weekend.Labor Day holiday travel spending is up 17% compared with 2019 levels, according to Adobe Analytics, which measures data across travel, leisure and hospitality sites. Domestic flight prices are expected to be 20% higher than the holiday weekend in 2019 and 2021, according to Hopper. United anticipates 2.6m people will travel with the airline from Thursday through Tuesday. The airline carrier said this would nearly match its Labor Day weekend volume of 2019.<br/>