International hotel bookings are up 82% compared with the same period a year ago. Additionally, international cruise bookings are up 44%, the auto club reported. For air travel, in particular, travel app Hopper projected that 20 million seats will depart from U.S. airports from Thursday to Tuesday of Labor Day Weekend, which is a 14% increase compared with this time last year. Friday will mark the busiest day for airports in the U.S. with an estimated 3.7 million people expected to depart.
The worst time to travel on Saturday will be between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time. The best time to head out on the road will be after 6 p.m., according to AAA. On Sunday, "minimal traffic" is expected, so travelers should be good to travel at any time of day. The worst time to travel on Monday is between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The best time to travel is anytime after 7 p.m. According to Hopper data, tickets for a domestic flight are averaging $226 round-trip, down 11% from last year and 20% lower compared with Labor Day weekend in 2019.
Flights to Mexico and the Caribbean are averaging between $350 and $430 per ticket, down as much as 10% compared to a year ago.