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Holiday rankings

The busiest US holiday travel days, ranked

The 40 busiest days across every US holiday window in the data, ranked by scheduled flights, with each day's on-time rate. 269 holiday days were compared.

Historical statistics from US DOT on-time data, not forecasts and not live status.

The busiest holiday day on record here is Sunday 1 December 2024, during Thanksgiving week 2024, with 21,764 flights scheduled. The next busiest were Sunday 30 November 2025 (21,576), Friday 11 October 2024 (21,548) and Monday 14 October 2024 (21,502).

Mondays account for 12 of the 40 busiest days, Sundays for 11. Airlines pack the schedule onto the days people want to travel, not onto the holiday itself.

The ten busiest days averaged 75.7% on time. The forty quietest days inside the same holiday windows averaged 80.6%, so the peak days did cost punctuality.

The worst of the busy days was Monday 16 March 2026 (Spring break 2026), when 20,678 flights ran just 44.6% on time.

The full list

Ranked

The busiest US holiday travel days, ranked
DayHolidayFlightsOn timeCancelled
1. Sunday 1 December 2024Thanksgiving week 202421,76477.1%0.23%
2. Sunday 30 November 2025Thanksgiving week 202521,57653.1%3.85%
3. Friday 11 October 2024Columbus Day weekend 202421,54881.7%2.44%
4. Monday 14 October 2024Columbus Day weekend 202421,50283.8%0.48%
5. Monday 7 July 2025Fourth of July week 202521,49967.6%1.00%
6. Sunday 13 October 2024Columbus Day weekend 202421,42185.7%0.68%
7. Sunday 6 July 2025Fourth of July week 202521,35470.4%0.93%
8. Wednesday 27 November 2024Thanksgiving week 202421,28583.8%0.09%
9. Tuesday 26 November 2024Thanksgiving week 202421,18684.6%0.26%
10. Sunday 7 July 2024Fourth of July week 202421,15569.6%2.23%
11. Sunday 24 November 2024Thanksgiving week 202421,11085.1%0.23%
12. Friday 10 October 2025Columbus Day weekend 202521,04073.4%0.14%
13. Monday 13 October 2025Columbus Day weekend 202521,02870.9%1.36%
14. Friday 22 May 2026Memorial Day weekend 202621,00571.0%0.33%
15. Monday 25 November 2024Thanksgiving week 202421,00385.8%0.20%
16. Sunday 12 October 2025Columbus Day weekend 202520,96372.3%0.45%
17. Monday 25 May 2026Memorial Day weekend 202620,94674.8%1.48%
18. Thursday 3 July 2025Fourth of July week 202520,92670.0%1.40%
19. Friday 30 August 2024Labor Day weekend 202420,88571.2%1.57%
20. Friday 24 May 2024Memorial Day weekend 202420,85268.2%1.91%
21. Friday 23 May 2025Memorial Day weekend 202520,82682.1%0.19%
22. Thursday 19 March 2026Spring break 202620,79582.7%0.40%
23. Friday 3 April 2026Easter weekend 202620,79177.9%2.24%
24. Friday 20 March 2026Spring break 202620,79079.4%0.54%
25. Monday 26 May 2025Memorial Day weekend 202520,79071.9%1.70%
26. Wednesday 26 November 2025Thanksgiving week 202520,78377.9%0.30%
27. Monday 11 November 2024Veterans Day 202420,77788.9%0.09%
28. Monday 6 April 2026Easter weekend 202620,75778.9%0.74%
29. Tuesday 25 November 2025Thanksgiving week 202520,73982.1%0.22%
30. Thursday 12 March 2026Spring break 202620,73864.5%2.27%
31. Friday 13 March 2026Spring break 202620,73865.3%4.40%
32. Monday 23 March 2026Spring break 202620,73478.6%2.81%
33. Monday 16 March 2026Spring break 202620,67844.6%19.57%
34. Monday 2 September 2024Labor Day weekend 202420,66181.8%0.46%
35. Monday 27 May 2024Memorial Day weekend 202420,64668.2%2.34%
36. Sunday 22 March 2026Spring break 202620,59474.5%0.86%
37. Sunday 23 November 2025Thanksgiving week 202520,58884.9%0.17%
38. Saturday 30 November 2024Thanksgiving week 202420,58077.9%0.07%
39. Sunday 5 April 2026Easter weekend 202620,57979.4%1.32%
40. Sunday 26 November 2023Thanksgiving week 202320,57871.1%0.12%

Reading the list

What the ranking shows

The busiest single day of each holiday was Sunday 1 December 2024 for Thanksgiving week (21,764), Friday 11 October 2024 for Columbus Day weekend (21,548), Monday 7 July 2025 for Fourth of July week (21,499), Friday 22 May 2026 for Memorial Day weekend (21,005), Friday 30 August 2024 for Labor Day weekend (20,885), Thursday 19 March 2026 for Spring break (20,795), Friday 3 April 2026 for Easter weekend (20,791), Monday 11 November 2024 for Veterans Day (20,777), Friday 20 December 2024 for Christmas and New Year (20,561), Friday 13 February 2026 for Presidents Day weekend (20,229) and Monday 19 January 2026 for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend (18,876).

Across every holiday day, Wednesdays ran best at 80.4% on time on average and Sundays worst at 75.8%, over 25 and 50 days respectively.

Of the busiest days, the ones with the most cancellations were Monday 16 March 2026 (19.57% of 20,678 flights), Friday 13 March 2026 (4.40% of 20,738 flights) and Sunday 30 November 2025 (3.85% of 21,576 flights). A peak day that loses flights leaves little room to rebook, because the remaining flights are already full.

By calendar year, the busiest holiday day was Thursday 22 December in 2022 (19,182 flights), Sunday 26 November in 2023 (20,578 flights), Sunday 1 December in 2024 (21,764 flights), Sunday 30 November in 2025 (21,576 flights) and Friday 22 May in 2026 (21,005 flights).

On time means arriving less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time. Average delay counts delayed flights only; cancellations are a share of every scheduled flight. A holiday is compared with the two weeks either side of it, leaving out days that belong to other holidays. The measurable-effect test asks for 3 points of on-time rate, 5 minutes of average delay or 2 points of cancellations; airports, routes and carriers need 500 flights in the window to be ranked. The US DOT publishes on-time data about two months after the month it covers.

Related

Other holiday rankings

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.