Avoid Flying On The Worst Days Of The Year For Your Sanity

Let's be frank — flying is not reliably fun. It is often, in fact, an incredibly stressful experience. From trying to snag a reasonably priced fare to the dilemma of whether to pay for seats or baggage in advance (here are some tips on avoiding baggage fees), even booking a ticket has become harrowing in its own way. Then there's the complex choreography of the airport experience, from check-in and bag drop to security screening and waiting for your zone to board at the gate. Once onboard, you encounter packed seats and limited overhead bin space (although we know a few hacks for securing this scarce resource on your next flight). The incidence of unruly passengers also appears to have risen in recent years.

Of course, everything can go smoothly, and the flying experience can feel as uplifting as a feather floating on a spring breeze, especially if you avoid making the rookie mistakes of a first-time flier. If there is one thing that can consistently hurt the flying process, it's massive crowds. At times throughout the year, airports fill with people, lines get longer, and tensions boil over. Days like these can be nerve-shredding, adding more obstacles to a procedure already resembling a pressure cooker. We've looked at data published from sources such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and global travel data provider OAG and found occasions and patterns throughout the year when numbers seem to peak. Do yourself a favor and try, whenever possible, not to book a flight on the days below.

A study by CheapAir.com identifies January as the cheapest month to fly. According to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, passenger numbers also hit some of the year's lowest levels during this month. However, around the long weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, celebrated on the third Monday of January, TSA figures show a rise in passenger numbers on the Thursday and Friday before the holiday and the occasion itself. In 2024, the passenger numbers jumped from 1,925,737 on Wednesday to 2,284,892 on Thursday before MLK Day. This represents an increase of almost 19%. The number of fliers on Friday soared even higher.

As winter draws to a close and spring break approaches, TSA statistics detail a rise in flight numbers over weekends in March. The exact day of spring break varies from state to state and among institutions. In 2024, for instance, some California universities had a spring break beginning in late February, while high-school breaks ranged from mid-March to early April. This uptick in travel numbers isn't confined to March, though — it continues through April and May. Higher demand can explain higher prices, as one Reddit poster noted, asking, "Why are flights so expensive to Seattle the second week of March?"

This federal holiday on the last Monday of May, once known as Decoration Day, exists to remember people who died in wars, near and far, and dates back to the late 1800s. In a poll by Rasmussen Reports, 80% of respondents also viewed Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer, when travel picks up. TSA stats show that more than one week before Memorial Day, the number of people flying surges. In 2019, 2022, and 2023, on the Thursday 10 days before Memorial Day, passenger numbers increased by about 250,000 people or more compared to one day earlier.

Of course, July 4 falls on a different day of the week each year. But, as a general rule, the dates around it see passenger numbers ratchet up. The Expedia Summer Travel Outlook predicts that the week before July 4 will find airports at their most congested during the season. As a poster on Reddit noted, "There is often tremendous domestic travel that happens on July 3 and July 5, and sometimes the morning of July 4." Looking at TSA data over several years, however, July 4 tends to have significantly fewer fliers than the surrounding days.

The three-day Labor Day weekend at the close of August and the start of September signifies the end of summer and acts as a last hurrah of sorts for warm-weather travelers. Kids go back to school, work routines tighten, and daily life begins to resume for many. The Friday of the weekend is the busiest day for air travel, according to the TSA. Looking at the statistics from 2023, individuals who wish to travel around that time but lessen their chances of hitting big crowds should plan their trip to leave on the Wednesday before Labor Day and return the Wednesday after it. The drop in numbers on those days is significant compared to either side of them.

The first federal holiday after Labor Day, this October break ushers in a period where the skies fill up. According to TSA data, the Sunday after Columbus Day was among the top five busiest days in 2023. This begins on the Thursday and Friday before, even the day before Columbus Day, and extends as far as the following Thursday and Sunday. In 2019, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey even labeled the days around Columbus Day as Peak Travel Days. As a commenter on a Tripadvisor forum page opined, "The only time I've had a really ugly airport taxi line experience was Columbus Day weekend. Over an hour in line at the airport on the Friday night of the holiday weekend."

A holiday unlike any other in the United States, Thanksgiving is the one time of the year that families make an extra effort to get together. It's a period of intense travel by planes, trains, and automobiles. Every year, tens of millions of Americans hit the road to get home for a special dinner or try to snag a Thanksgiving travel deal. The vast majority travel by car, but the airports are also packed. The days leading up to Thanksgiving, including the Friday before and the day before Thanksgiving, are especially busy, per TSA statistics. One day to avoid returning home by plane is the Sunday after Thanksgiving — the 2023 number of more than 2.9 million passengers screened broke all TSA records.

As technology progresses and the global population grows, air travel has flourished. From about 25 million flights around the planet in 2004, the numbers have increased to more than 38 million, with forecasts for the 2024 figure to top 40 million (via Statista). That's a lot of flights and fliers, and the skies have never been busier. Bureau of Transportation Statistics data also show the meteoric growth in air travel. About 670 million passengers flew from U.S. airports in 2002, which has since passed 1 billion. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. is home to the busiest airport in the world.

There are no dates at airports where check-in counters are empty, or you'll find TSA screeners twiddling their thumbs and waiting for passengers. But some days of the year are markedly more overloaded than others and are best avoided if possible. We analyzed data from the TSA, looking at a few years of statistics, to identify dates when airports are mobbed. We also consulted other government statistics, such as FAA numbers and online forums like Reddit and Tripadvisor, to round out our findings.