NEW YORK, N.Y. – It’s the final stretch of summer and families across the country are looking to squeeze in their last bit of fun in the sun over Labor Day weekend before the school year kicks off. To help holiday travelers increase their chances of a hassle-free weekend, RewardExpert – a free service that helps users take full advantage of credit card and travel rewards – released its 2018 Labor Day Air Travel Forecast.
The forecast utilizes historical flight data and on-time performance statistics to determine the best and worst airports, airlines, and dates for air travel throughout the Labor Day holiday travel period.
“Nothing can put a damper on a vacation like having to wait hours at the gate,” says RewardExpert co-founder Vlad Tyschuk. “Knowing where and when you’re most likely to experience travel disruptions is the first step towards ensuring smooth sailing for the holiday.”
Key findings from RewardExpert’s 2018 Labor Day Air Travel Forecast include:
- For a smooth and stress-free journey, avoid traveling on the Friday before Labor day, as well as the Tuesday after it. These have historically been the worst days for on-time departures and arrivals.
- Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport retains the title for the busiest airport in the nation. On-time performance at ATL declined by 2.63 percent from its five-year average on-time performance of 87.21 percent to 84.86 percent last Labor Day weekend.
- Alaska Airlines retains its status as the second-best performing airline, after Hawaiian Airlines, with 90.37 percent of holiday flights arriving and departing on time.
- Beware of increasing delays flying to and from North Carolina’s major urban centers and transportation hubs. On-time statistics for both Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham airports showed a negative trend in on-time performance from 2011 through 2016 (decreasing by 3.9 percent and 6.1 percent respectively), and with data in for Labor Day 2017, this trend-line continued on its downward path.
- Major airports in the Northeast saw some of the greatest improvement in on-time departures and arrivals, including Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport, Baltimore–Washington International Airport, and New York’s LaGuardia airport.
“For those choosing to fly for the purposes of a four-day weekend are typically looking to travel somewhere far or to get to their destination quickly,” says Tyschuk. “Taking a look at the track record of major airports and airlines can help you and your family spend more time vacationing than at the terminal.”