New York (AFP) - America's stressed travel infrastructure faces a major test this weekend as it contends with record turnout expected for the annual July 4th festivities.

The five-day stretch culminates in Tuesday's Independence Day celebration, a highlight of the US summer calendar, marked by fireworks, barbecues and lazing by the pool.

A record 50.7 million Americans are expected to venture at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home in the period heading into July 4th, eclipsing the prior peak of 49 million in 2019, according to the American Automobile Association.

AAA expects elevated volumes across travel modes, with the heaviest road traffic on Friday when travel times will be 30 percent over normal.

The busiest day for flying was Thursday, which was also the biggest day for air travel since Covid, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Twitter.

But airport chaos in recent days has put many travelers on guard as airlines struggle to meet torrid demand.

"We talked about flying," Nick Kendall said Friday as he awaited a train to Virginia at New York's Penn Station. "I'm really glad we took the train."

Kendall, who travels regularly for work, said planes have been packed for months in a big shift from the sleepy early pandemic period.

US airlines had spoken more hopefully about improvements this summer, but this week's difficulties suggested it may have been wishful thinking.

Storms in New York and other East Coast destinations wreaked havoc, forcing the cancellation of more than 3,200 flights to and from the three major New York-area airports since Monday.

Travelers are also tracking smoky air from Canada that's moving east from the Midwest. And extreme heat in Texas and other states has driven talk of a federal disaster declaration to mitigate public health risks. 

Paying up

Travel experts see this weekend's expected historic tourist volume as reflecting favorable factors, including a strong US job market and a drop in gasoline prices.

More than four-fifths of the travelers over the long weekend will be going by car, benefitting from the 25 percent slide in gasoline prices. But they will likely experience "grief at the grill," as Rabobank said of double-digit price increases on beef, lettuce, soda, white bread and potato chips.

Even before the pandemic, young consumers had shown a preference for spending on experiences, such as travel, compared with older generations.

If anything, those trends were boosted by the isolation of the pandemic, helping fuel the current go-go spending on hotels, flights and cruises.

"Travel remains really robust," said Siye Desta, an equity analyst at CFRA Research. "There hasn't been any sign of any pullback in consumer spending in travel, even though prices have meaningfully increased."

Stormy weather ahead?

For people traveling this weekend by plane, the biggest worry will the continuation of the turmoil of recent days.

In what has become a recurring theme in air travel, this week has seen another round of horror stories of flight cancellations, stranded luggage and airport mass sleep-ins.

"It was a madhouse at the airport," said Jason Rinka, who learned upon landing in New York from Beijing that his connecting flight to Raleigh, North Carolina was cancelled.

Rinka, along with his wife and daughter, stayed in New York for a few days. They were heading via train Friday to Washington, where they would catch a flight to North Carolina for the first visit with family in four years due to Covid-19. 

The circuitous itinerary saves the family more than $1,000 compared with last-minute direct flights from New York to Raleigh, Rinka said.

United Airlines, the carrier at the center of this week's New York travel chaos, blamed understaffing at the FAA for the outsized impact of the storm.

But pilots and flight attendant unions pointed at United management, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg noted other major carriers have recovered from severe weather.

Buttigieg described United's disruptions as "elevated but moving in the right direction," adding on Twitter Friday that the FAA "continues to monitor weather and smoke."

United still had more than 230 cancellations and nearly 800 delays Friday, more than other major US carriers, according to FlightAware.

Aviation experts note the industry has generally struggled to ramp up capacity to meet post-pandemic need, with personnel shortfalls dogging the system and fewer planes than expected, due in part to delayed deliveries from Boeing and Airbus caused by supply chain issues.

"Airlines have less of a buffer today," said Chris Raite, who analyzes aviation at Third Bridge, a research consultancy.