The calendar may say May, but it already feels like peak summer at the airport. I’ve noticed longer lines, bigger crowds and shorter tempers at several airports over the past few weeks, and between European strikes, airline meltdowns, labor shortages and school breaks it’s probably only going to get worse.
There are routes where flights can still be pretty empty. As I detail in my post on my Substack about my short trip to Sydney a week ago, there were 150 open seats at the back of the plane on my SFO-SYD flight, and about 100 coming back SYD-LAX. About three weeks earlier, I also had pretty reasonable loads between Seattle and Istanbul. But I get it that most routes are getting pretty full and travel to Europe is going to be very tight over the summer.
There are routes where flights can still be pretty empty. As I detail in my post on my Substack about my short trip to Sydney a week ago, there were 150 open seats at the back of the plane on my SFO-SYD flight, and about 100 coming back SYD-LAX. About three weeks earlier, I also had pretty reasonable loads between Seattle and Istanbul. But I get it that most routes are getting pretty full and travel to Europe is going to be very tight over the summer.