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Highways and airports are likely to be jammed the next few days as Americans head out for Memorial Day weekend getaways and then return home.
AAA predicts this will be the busiest start-of-summer weekend in nearly 20 years, with 43.8 million people expected to travel at least 50 miles from home between Thursday and Monday. The Transportation Security Administration says up to 3 million might pass through airport checkpoints on Friday alone.
And that is just a sample of what is to come. U.S. airlines expect to carry a record number of passengers this summer. Their trade group estimates that 271 million travelers will fly between June 1 and August 31, breaking the record of 255 million set—you guessed it—last summer.
The annual expression of wanderlust is happening at a time when Americans tell pollsters they are worried about the economy and the direction of the country.
A slowdown, and in some cases a retreat, from the big price increases of the last two years may be helping.
Airfares are down 6% and hotel rates have dipped 0.4%, compared with a year ago, according to government figures released last week. Prices for renting a car or truck are down 10%. The nationwide price of gas is around $3.60 a gallon, about 6 cents higher than a year ago, according to AAA.
