DENVER — The Memorial Day long weekend marks the unofficial start of summer and the summer travel season, but travelers this year face several obstacles — from storms causing delays at airports nationwide to rising fuel prices tied to the Iran war.
In Colorado, the average price for a gallon of regular gas is $4.77 — 21 cents higher than the national average of $4.56.
Plane tickets are also significantly more expensive than a year ago. A recent Nerd Wallet analysis found U.S. travel costs are up 9% compared to last year, and United, the largest airline at Denver International Airport, announced plans to raise prices by up to 20% to offset rising fuel costs in the company's most recent earnings call.
This weekend is also one of the busiest for travel each year. TSA estimates roughly 437,000 people will travel through DIA's security checkpoints — down a little more than 2% from Memorial Day 2025.
Many travelers say they are not surprised by the dip, and they are already rethinking the rest of their summer travel plans.
LeeAnne Nelson is one of them.
"We are now on the fence where I would not have been before," Nelson said.
Michael Carroll is also reconsidering.
"We had a couple of trips planned this year, and we kind of backed off a little bit and canceled one of them just because of cost," Carroll said.
It all boils down to dollars and cents.
"The price of everything ... has gone up in the last few months," Sanjair Bhagat, a finance professor at CU Boulder, said.
Bhagat says it is more than just the price of gas.
"We are being asked to, you know, pay a little bit higher in terms of gas prices, airline ticket prices, to assure us that nobody uses nuclear weapons on our forces," Bhagat said.
Bhagat is confident prices will drop quickly once the war ends.
"Middle Eastern countries, Iran and the other countries around the Gulf, you know, they are waiting to sell all the oil because they have not been able to sell as much as they would like," he said.
In the short term, however, Bhagat sees a harder road ahead for many Americans.
"For the average middle class worker, the decision may well be to forego a vacation or have a very short vacation," he said.
Nelson, one of the travelers, was in Colorado visiting her sister. She says their next visit may look a little different.
"We're now thinking maybe we drive from each end. I come from Seattle, she comes from the Denver area. We meet in the middle instead of me flying out because it could really be costly," Nelson said.
Carroll, however, was not going to miss his trip to Colorado; he was here to watch his granddaughter achieve a major life milestone.
"The prices have gone up a little bit, but, like once, you only graduate once in your life, so I couldn't miss it," Carroll said. "I had to come."
And for others, like Colin Lee, who is headed to Peru, the travel plans are staying firmly in place.
"Just excited for those trips, not really worried about it, just kind of excited for those," Lee said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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