- TSA chaos and pricier flights are killing the spontaneous mini break.
- For some travelers, it's not worth the cost or the hassle to do a short trip.
- Some are putting off last-minute vacations entirely, or choosing to drive instead of flying.
Hillary LaReau was turning 41 earlier this month and wanted to spend a few days off with her family and friends back home in Oklahoma.
LaReau, an emergency nurse practitioner based in Colorado Springs, said the flight home from Denver would typically cost $250 to $300, but when she checked flights in the first week of March — two weeks before she planned to fly — they were double the price.
"I was very much like, 'Yeah, I'm not paying that for a one-hour flight to Oklahoma City,'" she said.
On top of pricing, there were also TSA issues to consider.
Even though she has TSA PreCheck and CLEAR to speed things up, the friend she was traveling with did not.
"If I get to the airport, they're saying three to four hours early, get on an hour flight, and then do the same thing coming home — why not just get in the car and drive there?" she said.
So that's exactly what they did, making the trip by car in under 10 hours each way.
The spontaneous mini-break is under threat
As airfares rise and TSA lines spike unpredictably, many US travelers are finding spontaneous trips either too expensive or just too risky.
Some travelers are missing flights and having to sleep in the airport because of long delays in security lines.
Emily Calandriello, an NYC resident who was traveling with her husband from JFK Airport to Costa Rica this week, told Business Insider that she missed her flight after nearly getting caught in what she described as a "stampede" in the security line. She ended up staying the night in the airport and taking a flight out the next day.
TSA agents have been without pay for weeks due to the partial government shutdown, and many are calling out of work, leading to staffing shortages and long lines for travelers.
Right now, there's no clear path on when these issues will be resolved.
The House and the Senate are due to meet on Friday before a two-week recess. If funding for the Department of Homeland Security is not resolved, it could mean another two weeks of delayed pay for TSA workers.
At the same time, rising oil prices are pushing airfares up. The price of Brent crude oil has spiked by as much as 60% since the start of the Iran war at the end of February. It's currently hovering around $100.
As jet fuel prices climb, some airlines are hiking ticket prices. Others are cutting flights. United Airlines said earlier this week it would cut about 5% of all scheduled flights and 3% of its off-peak flights in the second part of 2026.
According to Deutsche Bank research, tracking the lowest available published fare 21 days in advance, flights from the US to Latin America, the Caribbean, and Florida for Friday, March 27 are up 58%, 133%, and 100%, respectively, versus the year before. Flights within the US, meanwhile, are up 162% during that same timeframe.
Plan B
Some travelers are opting to stay closer to home or choosing trains and cars over flights.
Greg Lupone and his wife, Silvia, who live in Cozumel, Mexico, wanted to visit his 93-year-old father in Pensacola, Florida, this month, but feel it's too risky to book anything because of the TSA chaos.
"We want to go," he said. "We're just too afraid to book."
They typically visit a few times a year, booking about a month or so in advance, and fly from Cozumel International Airport with a layover in Houston, Atlanta, or Dallas. But the airports in Houston and Atlanta have seen some of the longest TSA wait times this month.
"If the security line is two to three hours long, we miss our connecting flight in Dallas," Silvia Lupone said. "If we miss our flight, we waste a whole day with Dad."
They are hoping to book a trip soon. If the partial shutdown ends and TSA operations resume normally, Greg Lupone said they'd book "immediately."
"It puts our lives on hold," he said, adding, "With elderly parents, you only have so many more visits left."
Earlier this month, Mickey Lyons, a 53-year-old freelance journalist and lecturer based in Detroit, had plans to meet up with friends in Indianapolis and Louisville. Normally, she would have flown.
"Because of the recent airport chaos, I chose to drive both times — despite the fact that fuel prices skyrocketed halfway through the month," she said.
"At the beginning of the month, it made a little more sense because the chaos at the airport was already starting, but fuel prices weren't crazy," she said, adding that she had already committed to driving to Kentucky.
"Just in the days I was there, fuel prices jumped a $1 a gallon," she added. Average US gasoline prices are up to $3.98 per gallon.
Lyons said the uncertainty has also changed how she books travel. Normally, she books at least three months in advance, but now she's holding off to see if prices drop — and reconsidering how she gets places. She said she needs to be in Montreal by May 2 but is delaying booking in case costs come down, giving herself until April 1 to decide.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm considering driving across the border to Windsor, Ontario, and taking a 12-hour train ride to Montreal rather than deal with airport hassles," she said.
The mini break isn't going away, it's just changing
Though the odds are stacked against American travelers, their insatiable demand for travel has not been dented so much as changed.
Clint Henderson, managing editor of The Points Guy, said that "we have seen very little evidence of any letup in demand for spring break, summer, or even spontaneous trips."
Though Henderson expects fares to continue rising as oil prices rise, there are still deals to be had, he said — as long as you're willing to dig.
"They are just getting harder to find. Today we learned of a Delta flash sale with one-way business class availability to Seoul for as few as 89,000 Delta SkyMiles," he said. That's equivalent to around $1,000.
He advises travelers to use Google Flights Explore to find the cheapest flights and to choose countries where the US dollar is strong, so you don't have to penny pinch when you get there.
On the higher end of travel, customers are less fazed about rising fuel costs and more about the "unpredictability and hassle at the airport," said Lucie Kittel, founder of Domino Travel, a luxury travel agency based in Connecticut.
"The mini break isn't going away, it's just changing. I'm booking more high-end getaways within driving distance — clients still want that escape, just without the stress of flying," she added.
LaReau said her road trip home from Colorado to Oklahoma was a success, and she's starting to think about where else she can drive to when she next has time off.
Yellowstone is one option she's considering, about 10 hours away and somewhere she's never been.
"I travel several times a year. If I have time off, I'm usually going somewhere. But these prices are insane, and I'm not going to spend on one trip when I can normally take two or three trips for the same cost," she said.
