People Are Planning a Lot More Travel This Year—but They’re Not Taking Action Soon Enough

Every year, Going releases a State of Travel report, where we survey thousands of our members to find out how their year of travel went and what they expect from the year to come. (Here’s our report for 2024.)

Although the year is far from over, it’s already been one for the books. 2024 has brought a slew of record-breaking travel days (the Sunday after July 4th was the busiest day on record), new travel trends (if you haven’t heard of rawdogging a flight, you have now), flight-halting outages (looking at you, Delta), and more news to knock your compression socks off (budget airlines have begun slashing their fees). 

So we thought we’d check in to gauge how our members’ travels have stacked up to their expectations so far in 2024 and how they anticipate the rest of the year will pan out. 

Here’s what we learned. 

Travel plans have largely met (or exceeded) expectations 

About 78% of respondents say they’ve traveled as much or more than they expected to travel so far in 2024. 

This year has topped record after record. First, May broke the all-time record for US air travel passengers. Then June broke that record. And then July shattered that record with a staggering 84 million passengers (+9% from July 2023 and +8% from July 2019). 

Needless to say: Travelers have been out in full force. 

And why? Cheap flights are to thank. In what we call the Golden Era of Cheap Flights, airfare is currently 24% cheaper than it was at its peak in June 2020 despite an inflated economy. That’s because airline capacity has been consistently growing over the past two years, which increases competition and puts downward pressure on fares. 

Many travelers have seized the opportunity, jumping on hot deals—like nonstop LA to Tokyo for $595 roundtrip and tons of US cities to Barcelona starting at $207 roundtrip—to appease pent-up post-Covid travel desires. 

People will continue to travel through the end of 2024…

About 67% of respondents said they plan to take the same amount of international trips or more in the second half of the year than they did in the first half, with about 71% planning to take at least one international trip.

Similarly, about 68% of respondents plan to take the same amount of domestic trips or more in the second half of the year than they took in the first half, with about 86% planning to take at least one domestic trip. 

In addition to peak summer, the winter season is a heavy travel time; many people travel domestically for the holidays, and a number will jet-set internationally to take advantage of holiday markets in Europe or the winter sun in the Caribbean. 

…however, they’re not planning ahead

While people have plans to travel, it turns out that they’re not necessarily planning ahead. 

Of the respondents who are planning to take one or more international trips in the second half of 2024, more than one-quarter (27%) have yet to book any flights. And of the respondents who are planning to take one or more domestic trips in the second half of 2024, 35% haven’t booked any flights yet. 

For most times of the year, that would be fine. Typically, we say that people should be looking for flights in the Goldilocks Window (when cheap flights are most likely to appear). That’s 1–3 months before a domestic flight and 2–8 months before an international flight. 

However, as we mentioned, the second half of the year is replete with peak travel times, which means airfare goes up. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s: All of these require that you add several months to the standard Goldilocks Window—meaning that the people who haven’t booked flights for the second half of 2024 are closing in on the optimal booking window (or have even surpassed it in some cases). 

It’s impossible to predict the future, but with the way that airfare has been trending this year, it’s reasonable to assume that flights in the second half of 2024 will similarly be cheaper, with more last-minute deals popping up than in years prior. However, the only way to guarantee a cheap fare is to plan ahead. 

Travelers shouldn’t expect to find a cheap flight a week before Thanksgiving or Christmas. Instead, they should go ahead and start locking in their plans now. 

Check our Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s travel guides for more information about how to score the best deals during the holidays. 

Older generations have a tendency to book flights later, leading to higher prices

Specifically when it comes to international flights, data shows that Gen X and Baby Boomers have yet to book flights for the end of this year, whereas more Gen Z and Millennials have already booked. 

Of the respondents who plan to take at least one international trip in the second half of 2024, this is the percentage who have yet to book any flights:  

• Gen Z: 19%
• Millennials: 24%
• Gen X: 26%
• Baby Boomers: 31%

Domestic flight booking tends to be a little more all over the place, with both 38% of Gen Z and Baby Boomers with plans to travel domestically not having bought any flights yet, 35% of Millennials, and 31% of Gen X. 

There is general concern around flight delays and cancellations

Not only is there general concern among respondents around flight delays and cancellations, the concern increases with each generation. Millennials are more concerned about flight delays and cancellations than Gen Z, Gen X is more concerned than Millennials, Baby Boomers are more concerned than Gen X—you get the picture. 

When asked to rate how concerned they were on a scale from 0 to 100, with 100 being extremely concerned, this is how each generation responded: 

• Gen Z: 38%
• Millennials: 39%
• Gen X: 41%
• Baby Boomers: 43%

Outside of anomalous cases like the Boeing Max 9 grounding in January and the Microsoft outage in July, flight delays and cancellations are looking up, with cancellations below 2% each month, which is less than the typical average. 

In general, airlines are now able to mitigate cancellations better than in years past, especially when the situation is within their control. Now, it’s common for a cancellation to turn into a delay, which is far easier for travelers to deal with.

While travelers can’t exactly control when flight delays and cancellations are going to occur, they can control how they react. Knowing what to do if the airline changes or cancels your flight is a good start. In these situations, it’s important to know your rights as a passenger, which can enable you to switch to other (often better) flights free of charge, recoup expenses, get compensation, or even request a full refund if you decide you no longer want to take the flight. 

‘Lack of time off work or school’ and ‘high cost’ are the highest barriers for travelers

One-quarter (25%) of all respondents say that lack of time off work or school has been the biggest barrier to travel so far this year, while more than one-fifth (21%) of all respondents say the high cost of travel has been the biggest barrier. Year after year, members report that these are the two biggest barriers to travel. 

But when we look at the data a little closer, it yields some interesting insights. For respondents who reported traveling as much as (or more than) they expected so far this year, most (25%) cited lack of time off work or school as the biggest barrier to travel. On the other hand, for respondents who reported traveling less than they expected so far this year (or not at all), most (26%) cited high cost as the biggest barrier. 

Barriers to travel also vary greatly between generations. The vast majority of Gen Z (53%) says lack of time off work or school is the biggest barrier. While most Millennials (34%) also say that lack of time off is the biggest barrier, the high cost of travel (21%) and family and other commitments (16%) also ranked relatively highly. 

When it comes to Gen X, the biggest barriers are more evenly split. About 25% cited lack of time off work or school, 22% cited high cost, 18% cited family and other commitments, and 17% said they’ve had no barriers to travel so far this year. 

Baby Boomers by far had the fewest barriers to travel, with 35% saying they had no barriers at all. For those who did have barriers, 22% said the high cost of travel was the biggest barrier, while 17% said family and other commitments was the biggest barrier. 

The bottom line

Tons of people have hit the skies this year, but it hasn’t been without challenges. While flight cost was seemingly low due to recent industry trends, it’s possible that failure to plan ahead meant many travelers couldn’t take as many trips as they would’ve hoped. 

Looking into the rest of the year, airports and other travel spaces will be similarly busy throughout the fall and winter seasons, with many people planning to travel as much or more than they did in the first half of the year. But data shows that many of those travelers may end up paying more than the industry average for flight prices, as a number have yet to book their flights. 

In addition to high airfare, delays and cancellations are a point of concern among travelers. It’s difficult—and often impossible—to foresee these types of travel troubles, but knowing what to do if the airline changes or cancels your flight can help travelers bounce back and recoup some costs quicker. 

Methodology

We surveyed 820 Going members ages 18–79+ to understand how their travels so far in 2024 have compared to their expectations, as well as what they expect from their travels through the rest of the year. The survey was conducted near the end of the peak summer travel season, looking forward to autumn and winter 2024 travel.