May 19, 2026 • 6 mins
Ryan and Dana talk with Air Travel Analyst Jay Ratliff about the Memorial Day weekend travel outlook, including expected airport congestion and booking trends. They also talk about the surprising item the TSA says passengers can bring in their carry-on luggage.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So Ryan Gorman Show Podcast presented by Verah and Farah
Accident Attorney's TAPA.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Right now, let's bring in our aviation analyst, Jay Ratliffe
for a preview of what to expect this Memorial Day weekend. So, Jay,
how does Memorial Day weekend stack up to other big
holiday weekends when it comes to air travel.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, we don't see any records normally as far as
the number of people traveling. I have to say normally
because it was last year or the year before, we
had more than three million people flying in a single
day as we were kicking off the summer travel season,
which is in essence, loosely speaking, one hundred days from
Memorial Day to Labor Day. So what happens is, you know,
(00:43):
you kind of we start seeing things start to turn up.
But you know, it doesn't mean we won't see some
big numbers right off the bat. Because even though the
price of fuel is obviously up, we all see it
at the pump we're filling up our vehicles, or you know,
airlines are obviously battling it as well. It's not going
to be a summer of fewer people traveling. We're talking
about some markets setting records, which is really going to
(01:06):
be fun to watch because we've got fewer flights in
some markets and what we had before because some airlines
have scaled back the number of departures on certain routes,
meaning the flights that do operate are certainly going to
be more packed than ever before. So obviously, if you're
going to be flying, the obvious thing to do is
get to the airport, yes, at least two hours before departure.
(01:28):
But Ryan, the other thing I always am reminding people
is make sure you get to the airport for the
summer travel season with a seat assigned if you can.
So many people say, Jay, I made my reservation. I
tried to make my seat assignment, but all ahead was
middle seats, so I said, I'll just worry about it
when I get to the airport. But the problem is
if you show up at the airport and that flight's
(01:49):
over sold, meaning they've made more reservations than seats were
technically on standby until they clear. So I don't care
if it's a middle seat, grab it and then try
to change it when you get to the airport. Please
don't show up during this busy summer travel season without
a seat assignment of some kind, because that can quickly
(02:09):
work against us.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We're joined by our aviation analyst, Jay Ratliffe. What are
we seeing when it comes to prices for air travel
during this upcoming summer season, especially keeping in mind what
we've been seeing with jet fuel prices due to the
Iran war.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Blanket statement would be most of them are up twenty
to twenty five percent, some more than thirty percent, but
that doesn't mean there's not deals. Airlines recognize the perishable
product nature of an airline seat, the door shut, the
revenues loss forever. So what will happen is the they've
got a planning department that looks at advance bookings, and
(02:45):
if they see maybe a market from let's say Tampa
to Dallas is soft on a certain day, maybe a
Tuesday in the middle of June, they may say, you
know what we're going to do is we're going to
throw ten soup you know, pairs on that so that
we know we're getting some revenue, maybe not what we
would want, but we'll throw enough out to get a
(03:07):
few seats at a highly discounted price. What we need
to do as consumers is if we're shopping the Tampa
to Dallas market on that date in June, and all
the fares are three seventy eight three seventy eight. But
one morning, which is the best time to check it.
You're having your coffee, You look and it's one hundred
and seventy eight bucks. You know it's a deal. Grab
it quickly. Grab the trip cansulation insurance as well to
(03:29):
protect yourself. But because of your homework leading up to that,
you immediately identify it as a deal. You know, to
act immediately because it's not going to be there for long.
And also checking it as early in the day as
you can is a way to go. So there will
be some opportunities out there where people that actually are
working may be able to find some pretty good bargains
(03:50):
and you know, put the rest of us to shame.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And then real quick. Any other tips for those who
are planning on flying this upcoming weekend, some things for
them to keep in mind.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Two things I'd say if you're wondering if your seat
has any electrical power hookups, go to seat guru gu
ru dot com. Seguru dot com is free. It's a
color coded chart you put in your airline and flight number, boom.
It'll show you all the good seats to sit in,
the ones that have power, the ones that don't recline,
certain things to sit in or consider. That's one two.
(04:21):
Flight aware dot Com is a great size because if
I'm at my gate and my airplane's not there, I'm
starting to panic. I'll put in my flight number at
flight aware dot com and I do a flight tracking
showing the outbound portion, but in the upper corner it
says track inbound flight. I can click that and it'll
show me exactly where my airplane is at coming in,
(04:42):
so that if I got a tight connection and I'm worried,
at least I'm aware of things so that I know
when my aircraft's going to be there and approximately when
it might leave. That's the same app that I've seen
agents using at the gate when they're tracking flights as well,
because it's more reliable than their internal flight control sometimes
letting him know when an airplane's going to arrive.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
All right, A couple of really good tips again from
our aviation analyst, Jay Ratliff. Jay, thank you so much.
We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
If you're traveling by plane anytime, soon, you'll be happy
to know that. The TSA said you can bring as
many rotisserie chickens in your carry on as you'd like.
So yeah, the TSA recently put on X protein shakes
three point four ounces or less, but rotisserie chickens as
many as you can fit in your carry on. So
(05:30):
people reacted to this, say, you know what is going on?
What is this all about? Somebody said, I've never been
a big fan of the TSA, but this might turn
it around. Another said, real ones marinate their chicken with
protein shakes to get the best of both worlds. Now,
The Sun asked the TSA for clarification, you know, wondering
why rotisserie chickens, and they basically said they were just
(05:52):
making it clear that if you have liquids, you need
to measure them there's a limit, but solid foods like
rotisserie chicken are al out and carry on bags with
no quantity limitations, as long as it fits in the bag.
But I mean rotissary chickens, if you get a good one,
it's kind of juicy, Like I just feel like that's
like it's gonna leak everywhere. I would never ever think
(06:13):
to put a rotisserie chicken.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And carry on. I wouldn't have thought that either. But
now I'm flying to New York in about a month
and a half, I'm gonna have one of those delicious
publics rotisserie chickens, and I'm gonna enjoy it the entire flight.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Oh my god, can you imagine if somebody brought out
of a rotissary chicken in the middle of a plane
just started picking at it with their.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Somebody's gonna do it after this, somebody's gonna do what
They're gonna go viral? Yeah, POI Live to a Ryan
Gorman Show on iHeartRadio every weekday morning on w IOD
in Miami, w f LA and Tampa, presented by Vera
and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa,
So Ryan Gorman Show Podcast presented by Verah and Farah
Accident Attorney's TAPA.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Right now, let's bring in our aviation analyst, Jay Ratliffe
for a preview of what to expect this Memorial Day weekend. So, Jay,
how does Memorial Day weekend stack up to other big
holiday weekends when it comes to air travel.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, we don't see any records normally as far as
the number of people traveling. I have to say normally
because it was last year or the year before, we
had more than three million people flying in a single
day as we were kicking off the summer travel season,
which is in essence, loosely speaking, one hundred days from
Memorial Day to Labor Day. So what happens is, you know,
(00:43):
you kind of we start seeing things start to turn up.
But you know, it doesn't mean we won't see some
big numbers right off the bat. Because even though the
price of fuel is obviously up, we all see it
at the pump we're filling up our vehicles, or you know,
airlines are obviously battling it as well. It's not going
to be a summer of fewer people traveling. We're talking
about some markets setting records, which is really going to
(01:06):
be fun to watch because we've got fewer flights in
some markets and what we had before because some airlines
have scaled back the number of departures on certain routes,
meaning the flights that do operate are certainly going to
be more packed than ever before. So obviously, if you're
going to be flying, the obvious thing to do is
get to the airport, yes, at least two hours before departure.
(01:28):
But Ryan, the other thing I always am reminding people
is make sure you get to the airport for the
summer travel season with a seat assigned if you can.
So many people say, Jay, I made my reservation. I
tried to make my seat assignment, but all ahead was
middle seats, so I said, I'll just worry about it
when I get to the airport. But the problem is
if you show up at the airport and that flight's
(01:49):
over sold, meaning they've made more reservations than seats were
technically on standby until they clear. So I don't care
if it's a middle seat, grab it and then try
to change it when you get to the airport. Please
don't show up during this busy summer travel season without
a seat assignment of some kind, because that can quickly
(02:09):
work against us.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We're joined by our aviation analyst, Jay Ratliffe. What are
we seeing when it comes to prices for air travel
during this upcoming summer season, especially keeping in mind what
we've been seeing with jet fuel prices due to the
Iran war.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Blanket statement would be most of them are up twenty
to twenty five percent, some more than thirty percent, but
that doesn't mean there's not deals. Airlines recognize the perishable
product nature of an airline seat, the door shut, the
revenues loss forever. So what will happen is the they've
got a planning department that looks at advance bookings, and
(02:45):
if they see maybe a market from let's say Tampa
to Dallas is soft on a certain day, maybe a
Tuesday in the middle of June, they may say, you
know what we're going to do is we're going to
throw ten soup you know, pairs on that so that
we know we're getting some revenue, maybe not what we
would want, but we'll throw enough out to get a
(03:07):
few seats at a highly discounted price. What we need
to do as consumers is if we're shopping the Tampa
to Dallas market on that date in June, and all
the fares are three seventy eight three seventy eight. But
one morning, which is the best time to check it.
You're having your coffee, You look and it's one hundred
and seventy eight bucks. You know it's a deal. Grab
it quickly. Grab the trip cansulation insurance as well to
(03:29):
protect yourself. But because of your homework leading up to that,
you immediately identify it as a deal. You know, to
act immediately because it's not going to be there for long.
And also checking it as early in the day as
you can is a way to go. So there will
be some opportunities out there where people that actually are
working may be able to find some pretty good bargains
(03:50):
and you know, put the rest of us to shame.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And then real quick. Any other tips for those who
are planning on flying this upcoming weekend, some things for
them to keep in mind.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Two things I'd say if you're wondering if your seat
has any electrical power hookups, go to seat guru gu
ru dot com. Seguru dot com is free. It's a
color coded chart you put in your airline and flight number, boom.
It'll show you all the good seats to sit in,
the ones that have power, the ones that don't recline,
certain things to sit in or consider. That's one two.
(04:21):
Flight aware dot Com is a great size because if
I'm at my gate and my airplane's not there, I'm
starting to panic. I'll put in my flight number at
flight aware dot com and I do a flight tracking
showing the outbound portion, but in the upper corner it
says track inbound flight. I can click that and it'll
show me exactly where my airplane is at coming in,
(04:42):
so that if I got a tight connection and I'm worried,
at least I'm aware of things so that I know
when my aircraft's going to be there and approximately when
it might leave. That's the same app that I've seen
agents using at the gate when they're tracking flights as well,
because it's more reliable than their internal flight control sometimes
letting him know when an airplane's going to arrive.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
All right, A couple of really good tips again from
our aviation analyst, Jay Ratliff. Jay, thank you so much.
We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
If you're traveling by plane anytime, soon, you'll be happy
to know that. The TSA said you can bring as
many rotisserie chickens in your carry on as you'd like.
So yeah, the TSA recently put on X protein shakes
three point four ounces or less, but rotisserie chickens as
many as you can fit in your carry on. So
(05:30):
people reacted to this, say, you know what is going on?
What is this all about? Somebody said, I've never been
a big fan of the TSA, but this might turn
it around. Another said, real ones marinate their chicken with
protein shakes to get the best of both worlds. Now,
The Sun asked the TSA for clarification, you know, wondering
why rotisserie chickens, and they basically said they were just
(05:52):
making it clear that if you have liquids, you need
to measure them there's a limit, but solid foods like
rotisserie chicken are al out and carry on bags with
no quantity limitations, as long as it fits in the bag.
But I mean rotissary chickens, if you get a good one,
it's kind of juicy, Like I just feel like that's
like it's gonna leak everywhere. I would never ever think
(06:13):
to put a rotisserie chicken.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And carry on. I wouldn't have thought that either. But
now I'm flying to New York in about a month
and a half, I'm gonna have one of those delicious
publics rotisserie chickens, and I'm gonna enjoy it the entire flight.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Oh my god, can you imagine if somebody brought out
of a rotissary chicken in the middle of a plane
just started picking at it with their.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Somebody's gonna do it after this, somebody's gonna do what
They're gonna go viral? Yeah, POI Live to a Ryan
Gorman Show on iHeartRadio every weekday morning on w IOD
in Miami, w f LA and Tampa, presented by Vera
and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa,
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