Airlines dealt with a record number of passengers this Memorial Day weekend, but overwhelmingly provided customers with good travel experiences.
The Friday before Memorial Day weekend was the busiest day of air travel ever with nearly 3 million passengers, the Transportation Security Administration told CX Dive. Five of the top 10 busiest days were all in May.
Airlines prepped for the onslaught of passengers by hiring staff, from mechanics to flight attendants. While customers had to deal with weather-related delays over the weekend, airlines were able to keep cancellation rates low and largely delivered on factors within their control.
“Airlines fared fairly well this weekend in terms of customer experience, for the most part, in the sense that they canceled few flights and completed most,” David Slotnick, senior aviation business reporter at The Points Guy, said in an email.
Cancellations were under 1,000 for the weekend, which is a significant win for airlines, according to Katy Nastro, a travel expert at Going. Airlines often look to cancellations to see how they fare under the pressure of large passenger volumes.
“Delays are obviously frustrating when you're encountering them, but at least you get to your destination,” Nastro said. “When you deal with a cancellation, it has far greater impacts.”
With cancellations, passengers have to figure out how to make it to their destinations. If there are mass cancellations, as there were during the 2021-2022 holidays, all those passengers are scrambling to get on the same flights, Nastro said.
Communication was also a bright spot over the holiday weekend.
Slotnick said that based on his team’s observations, “many of the delays were communicated well to passengers, and the fact that most flights were completed, rather than canceled, means that the majority of people were able to get where they needed to go.”
Staffing also paid off, according to Nastro. Airline staffing is above pre-pandemic levels, and customer satisfaction reached an all-time high this spring. While the shortage of air traffic controllers is still affecting service, particularly around the New York area, airlines are managing the staff levels within their control.
“For all intents and purposes, this past Memorial Day was a great example of leading into a really big, really busy summer and how airlines can react to that influx of travelers,” Nastro said.
