AAA expects 45M Memorial Day travelers

Memorial Day travel is turning into a numbers story again. AAA now expects 45 million Americans to go at least 50 miles from home between Thursday, May 21, and Monday, May 25. That would be a new Memorial Day record — barely above last year, but still a record. The point is simple: Americans are still taking the trip, even when the trip gets more expensive. ### What exactly did AAA project? AAA’s forecast covers domestic Memorial Day travel across cars, planes, and everything else — bus, train, and cruise included. The headline number is 45 million travelers, up a hair from 44.8 million in 2025. So this is not some giant surge. It is more like demand staying stubbornly strong at already high levels. (newsroom.aaa.com) ### Why is driving still the whole story? Because almost everybody still goes by car. AAA expects 39.1 million people to drive over the holiday weekend, which is 87% of all Memorial Day travelers. That is the real reason highways will feel packed. Air travel gets the attention, but road trips still dominate the holiday by a mile. (newsroom.aaa.com) ### What about flights? Flights are a smaller slice, but still huge in absolute terms. AAA expects 3.66 million domestic air travelers this Memorial Day weekend, also a slight increase from last year’s 3.61 million. The interesting wrinkle is price: AAA says average roundtrip domestic tickets for people who booked Memorial Day trips were about 6% cheaper than a year ago, at roughly $800. The catch is timing — many of those bookings happened before higher jet fuel costs started pushing on airfare. (newsroom.aaa.com) ### So why are people still traveling if gas is higher? Basically because holiday travel is behaving less like a luxury splurge and more like a fixed ritual. AAA says pump prices are higher than last Memorial Day and are now at their highest level since the summer of 2022. But a three-day weekend is a powerful thing — people shorten the trip, drive instead of fly, or book earlier, rather than cancel outright. (newsroom.aaa.com) ### Where does the pressure show up first? On roads, rental counters, and roadside assistance. AAA says Thursday and Friday should be the busiest rental-car pickup days, and last Memorial Day it handled more than 350,000 roadside calls for dead batteries, flat tires, and empty tanks. That matters because record travel volumes do not just mean crowds — they also mean more breakdowns and more strain on the basic travel system. (newsroom.aaa.com) ### Which places are drawing the most travelers? Orlando tops AAA’s domestic destination list for the holiday weekend. Other big U.S. draws include Seattle, New York, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Anchorage, Chicago, Denver, and Boston. Internationally, Rome leads, followed by places like Vancouver, Paris, London, and Athens. So the mix is pretty classic — theme parks, big cities, cruise gateways, and European capitals. (newsroom.aaa.com) ### Is this really different from last year? Not by much in raw size. In fact, AAA’s 2025 Memorial Day forecast was 45.1 million, while this year’s is 45 million. But AAA says 2026 still sets a record because the comparable 2025 traveled figure came in at 44.8 million. That’s the useful distinction here — forecast versus actual. The trend is not explosive growth. It is sustained, near-record demand. (nbcwashington.com) ### Bottom line The Memorial Day story is not that travel suddenly boomed. It is that Americans never really backed off. Forty-five million travelers means the summer travel machine is starting hot again — with fuller roads, busy airports, and very little sign that higher prices are changing the tradition. (newsroom.aaa.com)