BOSTON (WHDH) - Travelers leaving the Bay State this July 4th weekend should expect heavy air travel delays, Massport told 7NEWS.
Travel demand is high at Logan Airport. AAA expects that 179,000 New Englanders are going to fly this weekend.
“It was ridiculous,” said Becca Ward, who is flying with her family to Indiana. “(The price) was really high, but we booked a couple of months ago so we got in right before they peaked.”
This holiday weekend is expected to bring some of the busiest travel days with many airlines continuing to cancel and delay flights, partly due to staffing shortages.
“Right now alarm bells are going off that this could get really really ugly,” said Kyle Potter, an executive editor for Thrifty Traveler. “The question is now not are things going to go wrong, the question is how bad are things going to get?”
The airline industry has already been plagued by delays and cancellations since the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this weekend could see many potential flyers stranded at the airport. According to Potter, airlines have been unable to recoup the manpower they had prior to laying off employees during the height of the pandemic
Experts say that flyers looking to avoid cancellations should book flights that are earlier in the day, pay to fly direct and try not to check a bag.
“It’s been fine, everything’s been on time and security has been great,” said Kristina Brown, who is flying to Mississippi. “But we also made time to get here early.”
AAA said roads will also be packed, estimating Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home this holiday weekend.
“Coming in from Washington D.C. we got a lot of alerts that the weekend traffic was going to be really heavy,” one traveler said.
MassDOT said the I-93 HOV lane opens early at 1:00 p.m., Sumner tunnel will be open this weekend and the best time to hit the roads is before 10:00 a.m. and after 9:00 p.m.
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