The busiest days to steal the Memorial Day in 2025

By Sally French, Nerdwallet

The Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer in the United States, but the days preceding there tend to bring the largest airport crowd. Certain days around the long weekend are considerably more busy than others, and if you can afford to be flexible when you fly during the Memorial Day weekend, you will save money and avoid chaos at the airport.

The best and the worst days to drive the Memorial Day weekend

Nerdwallet has analyzed the last three years (2022, 2023 and 2024) of control point of transportation of the transportation point for the six days before and six days after the Memorial Day, which shows how many passengers have been selected at the TSA control points.

For each year analyzed, Friday before the Memorial Day was the most crowded day to travel before the holidays, which is observed on the last Monday in May. For travel after the holidays, Sunday after attracted the biggest crowd in the past three years.

We have calculated the average daily number of flying passengers during this period in the past three years. Here are the most and less wide days for the 13 days around the Memorial Day (including the holidays), classified.

Fly before the Memorial Day:

The most crowded:

• Friday before the Memorial Day (2.69 million passengers).
• Thursday before (2.65 million).
• Wednesday before (2.39 million).

The least crowded:

• Saturday before (2.21 million).
• Tuesday before (2.25 million).
• Sunday before (2.26 million).

Fly on the day of the Memorial or after:

The most crowded:

• Sunday after the Memorial Day (2.62 million).
• Memorial Day (Monday; 2.56 million).
• Friday after (2.55 million).

The least crowded:

• Saturday after (2.21 million).
• Wednesday after (2.24 million).
• Tuesday after (2.34 million).

Why fly on Friday of the Memorial Day weekend is not ideal

The Memorial Day weekend is often the first travel period in charge of the year.

In 2024, Friday before the Memorial Day set a record of the time for the busiest travel day at American airports. However, this record was broken four times more in 2024 – three separate days in summer and again on Sunday after Thanksgiving (which currently holds the title of the busiest travel day at American airports of all time).

The Almet Weekend Weight Weight Weight Warm

If you work a standard work week from Monday to Friday and have a vacation, then leave Friday after work and the return of Sunday after the Memorial Day could be logical if you try to maximize your vacation days. This would give you eight full vacation days, and you will only have to ask for five days of vacation.

But flying Friday, Memorial Day on Monday or Sunday after the Memorial Day means that you will probably have to face higher flight prices and larger airport crowds.

Try these days of travel instead:

Travel Saturday: Rather than rushing to work on Friday afternoon, take this evening to suit your bags, spend Friday evening in your own bed and take a flight early on Saturday. Morning flights are often more reliable than in the evening.

Rolvalez at home on Tuesday or Wednesday after: Many people opt to travel the Memorial Day itself, and many people fly the next day. But relatively few people extend their trip one more day and fly on Tuesday, even Wednesday.

If you do, you will avoid the worst of the airport crowds. This can increase your chances of saving money on the plane ticket. In addition, you will be at home in time for a delicious two -day work week – which could be just enough time to conclude persistent tasks without obtaining new projects thrown on your desk.

Go home on Saturday after: You can always spend a week’s vacation and avoid the crowds on Sunday when I got home on Saturday after the Memorial Day.

Then you will have a full day at home to eliminate the detergent and the preparation of meals before the start of the next week. After all, sometimes the most relaxing way to end a trip is to take a vacation of this vacation.

Sally French written for Nerdwallet. Email: sfrench@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @safmedia.

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