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The clock is ticking down toward the 2024 holiday season. CivicScience data from last month found holiday travel plans level with 2023, and that percentage has held steady around 32% through mid-October.
What has changed over the past month, however, is how Americans plan to undertake their holiday travel this year. More travelers plan to travel by car, while slightly less plan to take flights.
To make room in their budgets, many planned holiday travelers are cutting back on fast food and fast casual dining due to higher prices, but they’re far less likely to cut back at the gas pump – suggesting that the recent trend of gas prices levels not seen since 2021 could be making the decision to travel by car an easier one.
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And although as many as 3-in-10 plan to travel by plane this holiday season, many travelers are still hesitant to fly. The factors driving this reluctance are more varied among those planning to travel this holiday season, compared to fliers overall. The leading common denominator between these groups? The belief that flight prices have become too expensive, as airline prices continue an upward trend. This season’s holiday travelers are also notably more concerned about the possibility of encountering on-plane confrontations, limited flight availability, and contracting COVID-19.
Another factor weighing on Americans’ minds is flight safety, with multiple instances of near-misses on runways, along with other mid-air safety issues. Nearly 2-in-5 Americans are now at least ‘somewhat’ reluctant to fly due to concerns about flight safety. Notably, the percentage of those who are ‘very’ reluctant has jumped by five percentage points since last year.
While Americans 55 and older make up the higher percentage of those who are ‘very’ reluctant to fly right now due to safety concerns, Gen Z adults aged 18-24 hold the highest level of concern overall (66%).
Join the Conversation: How concerned are you about flight safety?
The 2024 holiday season is shaping up to be a busy one, especially on the roads. While 3-in-10 planning to fly is no small number, concerns about rising airline ticket prices and flight safety have the potential to create some turbulence for the airline industry this holiday season.
