Why flying in the summer is so hellish

HERE in America, we recently celebrated Memorial Day, when barbecues and pool openings mark the beginning of summer, astronomers be damned. For leisure travellers, that means sun, surf and spritzes. For business travellers, it can mean headaches, as airport lines grow ever longer and flight delays more common.

Who is to blame for the annoyances of flying in the summer? Partly, it is those aforementioned leisure travellers. Longer waits in security lines are largely a question of volume. Airlines for America (A4A), an industry group, forecasts that more than 234m passengers will use America’s carriers from June through to August. That would represent a new record, topping last year’s number by 4%. A4A attributes the expected increase to a growing economy and “historically low airfares”. But really, this is a familiar pattern. In 2016 the group also predicted a record-high number of summer…Continue reading

This post was originally published in the Economist.