Fall travel: Airports seeing huge crowds with holidays around the corner

Picture what an airport looks like just before a major holiday: It’s pretty easy to imagine the long lines, busy concourses and full parking lots we’ll see the night before Thanksgiving and for Christmas weekend. If you traveled this past summer, you undoubtedly experienced your share of all those things.

And yet, even as we sit in the middle of October, between the busy summer and holiday travel seasons, you might be surprised to know that airports have seen some of their busiest days since the pandemic began in March 2020.

On each of the last two Sundays, more travelers passed through U.S. airports than on any of the days surrounding Memorial Day, Fourth of July or Labor Day this year. Also, airports were far more crowded during recent weekends than they were during the holidays last year.

It’s a sure sign that even though many travelers were able to take long-awaited trips this spring and summer, pent-up demand for travel has yet to be satisfied. This craving is more accessible with fall airfare deals popping up even though airfare, in general, is on the rise.

With the free TPG app, you can track your progress toward your next trip, and get spending recommendations to help you reach your travel goals.

While some travel metrics lag behind 2019 levels and the industry continues the recovery that some executives have said may take until 2023 or beyond to reach, people are still taking to the skies in droves this month.

“We’re definitely seeing a lot more [bookings] than we typically see this time of year, and it’s for travel now,” West Coast-based travel advisor Lindsay Taylor-Lauer, of the agency Travel Leaders 365, told TPG. “Nobody’s really batting an eye at the higher airfare.”

This all comes just a few weeks before even bigger crowds are likely to descend on airports for what’s expected to be the busiest holiday travel season in a few years.

The nearly 2.5 million passengers that passed through TSA checkpoints at U.S. airports on each of the last two Sundays was no anomaly: Across the board, passenger traffic on a number of days this month has rivaled the consistently-heavy volume we saw this summer. Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines’ president noted the unusually high fall travel demand.

Weren’t the crowds supposed to taper off after summer ended?

“It has a little,” TSA spokesperson Mark Howell told TPG. “But not to the point where it typically has in years prior.”

Where — and when — the most passengers are showing up, though, tells us a lot about the state of travel right now.

At Miami International Airport (MIA), for instance, passenger traffic during the first 17 days of October was up 17% compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to data reviewed by TPG. The airport is among the five U.S. airports seeing the biggest growth in seats on flights since 2019, according to the latest numbers from the airline trade group Airlines for America. The others are Austin (AUS), Nashville (BNA), Las Vegas (LAS) and John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, California.

Considering those are all popular vacation spots, when they’re busiest makes sense. “The weekends especially,” Howell said.

It also helps to explain why, by some measurements, travel, in many respects, does still trail what we saw before the pandemic.

Take last week, for instance: As big as the crowds were with leisure travelers last Sunday, the TSA screened 20% fewer passengers three days later, on Wednesday. It’s a reminder that despite some bounceback for business travel in recent months, the return of work trips has generally lagged behind the return of trips taken for fun.

Meanwhile, many airlines continue to operate with leaner schedules in an effort to avoid the major operational challenges seen earlier in the summer in the face of staffing shortages, particularly with respect to pilots.

However, continued demand coupled with fewer routes does mean the plane you’re on is likely to be quite full. With that in mind, if you still hope to squeeze in a fall trip, there are some things to consider.

Planning for end-of-fall trips

Even though the airport is likely to be busy, the plane is more likely to be packed and finding a good fall deal requires some strategy, the shoulder season remains a great time to travel.

If you’re still looking to get an autumn getaway on the books, though, there are some things you should keep in mind.

Plan ahead when traveling on Fridays or Sundays

With so many opting for weekend trips this fall, Fridays and Sundays are going to be the busiest days at the airport. Especially true if you don’t have TSA PreCheck or…