Travelers trying to avoid the Memorial Day rush are seeing flight delays and higher prices

Memorial Day weekend travelers’ patience was tested Thursday by widespread delays across the country, but there were relatively few canceled flights, giving hope that airlines can handle crowds largest expected on Friday.

As of early evening on the East Coast, more than 6,000 flights had been delayed Thursday, with the biggest delays occurring at the three major airports in the New York area and Dallas-Fort Worth International.

The Transportation Security Administration predicted that Friday would be the busiest day for air travel of the holiday weekend, with nearly 3 million people expected to pass through airport checkpoints. That could rival the record of 2.9 million, set on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year.

“Airports are going to be more crowded than we’ve seen in 20 years,” said Aixa Diaz, a spokeswoman for AAA.

When not waiting for flight delays, travelers report price shock.

At Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, Larisa Latimer of New Lenox, Ill., said her plane ticket was reasonable, but other expenses for a New Orleans getaway were not. not.

“I just have to make the accommodations,” she said. “Car rentals are up…this year hotel rooms were very unusually expensive.”

Kathy Larko of Fort Meyers, Fla., used frequent flyer miles — and flex time — to pay for her trip to Chicago.

“I’m really aware of the cost of the whole trip. We stay a little further away than we normally would” to get a lower hotel rate, she said. “We also come back a day later because we could get cheaper miles.”

More travelers will be on the road. AAA estimates that 43.8 million people will venture at least 50 miles from home between Thursday and Monday, including 38 million by vehicle.

Airport unions are taking advantage of the public holiday weekend to assert their demands.

About 100 workers who clean airplane cabins and drive garbage trucks at the Charlotte, North Carolina, airport began a 24-hour strike Thursday, demanding better wages and better health care, according to the union international service employees. About 15% of flights were delayed, but it is unclear whether the strike played a role.

A planned strike at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, however, was averted. Teamsters Local 553, which represents about 300 workers who refuel passenger and cargo planes at JFK, said it reached an agreement with Allied Aviation Services and canceled a strike planned for Friday.

“We are happy that an agreement has been reached, that the need for a strike has been avoided and we hope that the agreement will be ratified by our members,” said Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer of the local union.

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Associated Press video journalist Melissa Perez Winder in Chicago and Associated Press radio journalist Shelley Adler in Washington contributed to this report.