TripIt Data Shows One-Third of Memorial Day Weekend 2022 Flights Headed Abroad

Flights? The start of the summer travel season in the U.S., better known as Memorial Day weekend, is always a heavily trafficked holiday. And despite soaring prices, our data shows that this year will be as busy as ever.

TripIt analyzed U.S. origin flight, rental car, lodging, and vacation rental reservations made by our TripIt users for Memorial Day weekend 2022 and compared the findings to the equivalent booking period in 2021.

We found that, whether it’s due to the mask mandate being lifted, falling COVID-19 infection rates, or just plain old spring fever, travelers will be out with a vengeance. All the categories that we analyzed show significant increases compared to last year’s volume, though some more than others. International travel will see the largest increase by far with nearly a third of all fliers heading overseas and close to a 500 percent increase compared to last year. Memorial Day weekend 2022 seems to be both the official start of summer, and the unofficial return of the international vacation.

Current Percentage of Flights Reservation Compared to Year Prior

2022 Flights ( All ) 2022 Flights ( Domestic ) 2022 Flights ( Int’l ) 2022 Car Rentals 2022 Lodging 2022 Vacation Rentals Compared to 2021 253%207%466%191%184%134%

The unofficial return of the international holiday vacation

Each recent holiday has seemingly been more traveled than the last, with airport security checkpoint numbers continuing to break pandemic-era records. Memorial Day 2022 will not stray from this trend.

We expect the busiest airports to be:

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Denver International Airport (DEN) Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DWF) Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

Those departing from these airports should allow extra time to get through security, especially if their flight is on Friday (5/27), the busiest day for departures, or Thursday (5/26), when nearly as many will also depart. For the top-five most popular airports, the busiest hours for departures (and when you should be extra careful to allow extra time) will be:

Busiest Airport Hours Based on Departure Reservations

Airport Date Departure Time (Local) SFO May 27 May 268 a.m. 10 a.m.

8 a.m. 4 p.m. LAX May 27

May 268 a.m. 1 p.m.

8 a.m. 1 p.m. DEN May 27

May 2611 a.m. 12 p.m.

12 p.m. 10 a.m. ORD May 27

May 268 a.m. 7 a.m.

7 p.m. 1-2 p.m. JFK May 27

May 268 a.m. 7 p.m.

7 p.m. 8 p.m.

While flights overall saw more than a 2.5X increase, the biggest surprise in the data for this holiday is that a third of flights are to international destinations, a dramatic increase from last year when less than a fifth of flights were headed outside the U.S. While testing requirements are still in place for travelers entering the United State from abroad, it seems that other lifting restrictions and open borders are driving the impressive return to long-haul flights. International destinations in the top 25 include London (#5), Paris (#13), Cancun (#14), and Dublin (#25).

Of the remaining domestic flights, nearly a third are to destinations in either California (15%), Florida (12%), or New York (6%).

Flights Destination Ranking and Rank Changes

2022 Ranking City, State 2021 Ranking Rank Change (2021 to 2022) 1 Orlando, FL 212 Denver, CO 423 New York, NY 1294 Las Vegas, NV 1-35 London 77726 Chicago, IL 717 San Francisco, CA 1148 Boston, MA 1359 Los Angeles, CA 8-110 Seattle, WA 10011 San Diego, CA 20912 Phoenix, AZ 5-713 Paris 927914 Cancun 3-1115 Dallas, TX 9-616 Newark, NJ 261017 Washington, DC 483118 Honolulu, HI 16-219 Atlanta, GA 21220 Miami, FL 17-321 Nashville, TN 19-222 Portland, OR 23123 Fort Lauderdale, FL 15-824 Austin, TX 28425 Dublin 10883

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Rising gas prices won’t slow road trip popularity

Rising gas prices won’t slow car rental demand for Memorial Day weekend. With nearly a 200% increase in volume compared to 2021, rental cars remain the darling of pandemic-era travel. Similar to past holiday travel periods , nearly a third of car rentals have been booked in California (13%), Florida (10%), and Hawaii (8%). And while it does seem that drivers are seeking sunshine, they also seem to be opting for big cities like Denver, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Seattle—all of which saw a rise in ranking—over beach destinations like Honolulu, Lihue, Kailua-Kona, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, and Fort Myers—all of which declined in ranking.

Car Rental Destination Rankings and Rank Changes

2022 Ranking City, State 2021 Ranking Rank Change (2021 to 2022) 1 Denver, CO 322 San Francisco, CA 1083 Orlando, FL 2-14 Kahului, HI 1-35 Boston, MA 946 Las Vegas, NV 4-27 Honolulu, HI 6-18 Los Angeles, CA 18109 Phoenix, AZ 5-410 Chicago, IL 211111 Lihue, HI 7-412 Kailua-kona, HI 11-113 Salt Lake City, UT 8-514 Dallas, TX 23915 Seattle, WA 402516 Portland, OR 17117 Fort Lauderdale, FL 13-418 San Diego, CA 15-319 San Jose, CA 523320 Tampa, FL 12-821 Philadelphia, PA 29822 Austin, TX 371523 Fort Myers, FL 20-324 Nashville, TN 26225 Houston, TX 316

Travelers take a big bite out of The Big Apple

While hotels and vacation rentals saw the smallest increase in volume compared to last year, they saw impressive increases nonetheless, of 184% and 134% respectively.

Big cities continue to call it a comeback, with New York City reclaiming its number one spot for hotels, and New York (#3) and Brooklyn (#10) making massive jumps for vacation rentals as well. Other big cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Portland also held their ground on both lists. Meanwhile, the vacation rental top 25 also saw outdoor adventure destinations hold their own, including Bend, OR, Moab, UT and Sedona, AZ.

Indianapolis will see crowds return for the Indy 500, climbing 16 spots from #31 to #15 for hotels and 18 spots from #40 to #22 for vacation rentals.

Yellowstone continues to be a hot spot for hotels, perhaps thanks to the popular television show. After setting records last year, Yellowstone made an appearance on the top-25 list for lodging at #25 this year.

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Miami Beach (#11), Savannah (#12), and Nashville (#13) are new arrivals to the vacation rental top 25 this year as well. Perhaps as a popular spot for rescheduled bachelor and bachelorette parties?

Lodging Destination Ranking and Rank Changes

2022 Ranking City, State 2021 Ranking Rank Change (2021 to 2022) 1 New York, NY 432 Las Vegas, NV 1-13 Chicago, IL 744 Orlando, FL 2-25 Boston, MA 1386 San Diego, CA 5-17 San Francisco, CA 1478 Seattle, WA 1579 Denver, CO 10110 Honolulu, HI 3-711 Los Angeles, CA 17612 Nashville, TN 9-313 New Orleans, LA 8-514 Washington, DC 513715 Indianapolis, IN 311616 Atlanta, GA 412517 Anaheim, CA 341718 Austin, TX 11-719 Lahaina, HI 6-1320 Portland, OR 23321 Philadelphia, PA 432222 Miami, FL 26423 Houston, TX 361324 Phoenix, AZ 32825 Yellowstone, WY 5328

Vacation Rental Destination Rankings and Rank Changes

2022 Ranking City, State 2021 Ranking Rank Change (2021 to 2022) 1 San Diego, CA 102 Seattle, WA 203 New York, NY 18154 Chicago, IL 35315 Austin, TX 726 Kissimmee, FL 1157 New Orleans, LA 5-28 Miami, FL 1799 Denver, CO 302110 Brooklyn, NY 83282211 Miami Beach, FL 918012 Savannah, GA 291713 Nashville, TN 493614 San Francisco, CA 16215 Palm Springs, CA 3-1216 Bend, OR 24817 Lahaina, HI 14-318 Moab, UT 281019 Asheville, NC 9-1020 Kihei, HI 6-1421 Tampa, FL 896822 Indianapolis, IN 401823 Portland, OR 19-424 Sedona, AZ 8-1625 Honolulu, HI 10-15

Methodology: TripIt looked at U.S. origin round-trip flight reservations made between April 24, 2021, and April 24, 2022, for travel during Memorial Day weekend (Thursday, May 26 – Tuesday, May 31, 2022), and equivalent booking periods in 2021, 2020, and 2019. Reservation data in TripIt is provided by users and is booking provider agnostic.