Memorial Day weekend sees surge in travel as Marylanders return home

BALTIMORE -- Tens of millions of Americans traveled for the long holiday weekend, and now they're all heading back home.

In Maryland, AAA estimated more than 850,000 would travel more than 50 miles for Memorial Day weekend. Of that, nearly 71,000 were estimated to fly.

Among those flyers was Cheryl Eibner, she flew back home to Baltimore from Orlando, Florida. She was there for a girls' weekend.

"It was wonderful, we had a great time. Great weather and a great to get a group of lifelong friends together," Eibner said.

Kevin Wiliams was also on Eibner's flight home. His trip to Orlando was a little more last minute.

"I had a friend down there, he had an extra room and said why don't you come down," Williams said. "Went to a resort, it was a good time."

Nationally, AAA estimated around 3.4 million flyers for the holiday weekend. That's higher than pre-pandemic numbers by more than 5%.

To beat the Friday rush, Eibner flew to Orlando on Thursday.

"It was a wonderful trip over, but a little busy coming back. There were no seats coming both ways," she said. "The travel holiday has been busy for the airlines."

Williams was part of that Friday rush, but on the way back, he said things weren't too bad.

"Friday was a little cluttered, [Monday] was a little less cluttered. I'm not sure why, I expected it would've been more cluttered because of the holiday. It was decent," he said.

The high demand for flights came as ticket prices have risen. AAA said airfare for some top destinations were 40% more expensive than last year.