MYNORTHWEST NEWS

AAA won’t forecast Memorial Day travel for first time in 20 years

May 14, 2020, 8:38 AM | Updated: Oct 7, 2024, 9:58 am

Airport, Memorial Day travel...

Check-in counters sit nearly empty at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in March 2020. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

(Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

What will Memorial Day weekend travel look like this year? Typically we’d depend on AAA’s annual forecast to tell us, but this year, things are far more unpredictable.

With Washington’s stay-at-home order in effect until after the holiday, it’s likely there won’t be as many people on the road as in typical years.

Travel is difficult to predict right now, to say the least. So for the first time in 20 years, AAA is choosing not to provide a yearly forecast. The data it normally uses just isn’t reliable, with fewer of us traveling anywhere right now.

If passengers cancel flights over COVID-19, should they get refunds?

Last year, 43 million Americans went somewhere over the three-day holiday weekend in May, the second highest travel volume on record for all the years AAA has followed the trends.

The lowest Memorial Day weekend travel recorded came in 2009, as the nation came out of the Great Recession. Nearly 31 million people traveled over that weekend, a number that we seem destined to be below in 2020.

MyNorthwest News

Dolly Parton...

Associated Press

Dolly Parton’s nephew wants more time to defend himself against restraining order from her estate

Dolly Parton’s nephew wants more time to get a lawyer in place to defend himself against a temporary restraining order.

3 hours ago

bellingham crash...

MyNorthwest Staff

Northbound I-5 in Bellingham fully reopens after 3-car crash; injuries reported

Northbound I-5 has fully reopened in Bellingham at Iowa St., milepost 253.

5 hours ago

coast guard murder 18-year-old...

MyNorthwest Staff

18-year-old charged with murder in Skyway shooting death of Coast Guard officer

An 18-year-old Covington man is now charged with second-degree murder in the August shooting death of Coast Guard Lt. Connor Overstreet.

5 hours ago

A partially unzipped grey duffel bag is overflowing with United States one hundred dollar bills. (P...

Gee Scott

Gee: Wait, what?! Man finds $128K in cash sitting on top of an ATM

A 37-year-old man in Texas walked up to an ATM and discovered something you generally don’t find sitting on top: $128,514 in cash. What’s your next move?

5 hours ago

king county sheriff's office incident sea airport...

KIRO Newsradio staff

Key parts of Washington sheriff standards law blocked; state plans to appeal

A judge permanently blocked key parts of Washington’s new sheriff standards law Friday after temporarily blocking it earlier this year.

6 hours ago

The Spin Jayapal...

Luke Duecy

The Spin: Jayapal’s Bite of Seattle shooting statement puts pressure on Mayor Katie Wilson

Newly released text messages show U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal questioned whether she should appear with Mayor Wilson during the Bite of Seattle shooting response.

6 hours ago

AAA won’t forecast Memorial Day travel for first time in 20 years