Medford, Ore — According to AAA this Labor Day weekend is predicted to be the busiest yet for travel.
Last week, smoke led to cancellations at the Medford International Airport. That didn’t stop many from flying in to spend their holiday weekend in Southern Oregon.
Air travel on a major holiday is always a calculated risk.
“Had to get up at 3 o’clock this morning, flight left at 6am, so we’ve been going quite early,” said Ty Buss.
Labor Day weekend is no exception, with 16.5 million people expected to fly using U.S. Airlines.
“Even pre-check was super long,” said Tara Collins.
Collins is one of those brave souls, flying into Medford from San Francisco.
“Gosh, it was a little insane in San Francisco this morning. It took me probably took me 10-15 minutes just to get out of the car into the door at the airport,” said Collins.
It’s a tradition for her and her friends to visit a National Park, this year it’s Crater Lake.
“We take a girls outdoorsy trip every year, and this year we just were thinking about the different national parks we wanted to see, and we settled on Crater Lake,” said Collins.
For others like Ty Buss, it’s family time.
“Salmon we hear are running now so we’re going to do some fishing and go to the Coast and go to the Ocean,” said Buss.
Ty and his sons are visiting from Nebraska. He says been keeping a close eye on cancellations.
“Was kind of a little concerned but we saw it was clearing up, so we’re glad it’s getting better.”
The flight arrived on time, and as conditions improve, so does the weekend.
“A lot better climate here than in Nebraska, so we like it here a lot,” said Buss.
“First time we’ve been, hopefully not the last, very excited!” Said Collins.
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