Gray News

Whether traveling by air or by car, millions of Americans have something to celebrate this holiday weekend: lower prices.

AAA said overall it’s seeing a 2% dip in the cost of domestic travel.

GasBuddy predicts that national average for gas on Labor Day will be $3.27 a gallon, the cheapest for the holiday since 2021.

Over the weekend, Americans could spend $750 million less on gas than they did last year.

The recent drop in gas prices can be attributed to weaker oil prices, softer demand for gasoline and fewer major refinery outages than last summer.

And it could be just the beginning. GasBuddy says average prices could dip below $3 this fall as gas stations in most states transition to winter blend gas on Sept. 16.

But air travelers are being advised to pack their patience, especially in Seattle where a cyberattack shut computer systems down Saturday. By Thursday, the airport was still trying to recover.

“The biggest impact to passengers has been for those flying internationally and low volume carriers,” said Lance Lyttle, aviation managing director of Seattle Tacoma International Airport. “These carriers are notable to access our common use online systems during the outage and may still be utilized in manual written boarding passes and luggage checks. This has caused some longer lines for their customers.”

Across all U.S. airports, the Transportation Security Administration is expecting an 8.5% increase in passenger volume compared to last year.

“Overall it has just been tremendous to see how many people want to travel,” said Aixa Diaz, AAA spokesperson.

AAA said top Labor Day destinations are Seattle, Orlando and Anchorage, Alaska.