Memorial Day weekend sets travel record, but some see delays from storms

Passengers headed to the airport over the weekend set a new travel record ahead of the Memorial Day holiday.

The Transportation Security Administration said it screened nearly 3 million passengers on Friday — which is the highest single-day total ever.

More than 270 million passengers are expected to travel on U.S. airlines this summer, which is up 6% from last year.

When the holiday concludes, the Federal Aviation Administration predicts this will have been the most-traveled Memorial Day weekend in 14 years.

Travelers on the road are expected to break records of their own.

AAA estimates over 38 million people will have traveled by car over the long weekend. That’s an all-time high since the company started tracking this data in 2000.

Hertz says the cities with the highest rental car demand are Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, Boston and Las Vegas.

On the other hand, deadly storms across several states over the weekend are putting a damper on travel in some areas. Parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas were completely destroyed after severe weather, including tornadoes, downed trees and reduced some homes and buildings to rubble. At least 20 people were killed.

Because of the storms, some flights saw delays and cancellations, and roads hit by storms faced blockages in the aftermath.

As of 8:30 a.m. Monday, there have been over 1,000 delays and nearly 130 cancellations for flights within, into or out of the U.S. on the Memorial Day holiday.

Severe storm threat continues in US after at least 20 killed