US School Vacation dates 2012
Replies: 8 - Last Post: Feb 11, 2012 6:41 AM Last Post By: TravelAddictLar...
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US School Vacation dates 2012
I am planning a trip to the US and Europe in August, September and October of this year, and as I am planning to use my staff travel discount to get my airfare, there is a probability that I will get bumped off the flight I wanted to take. This is fine, as I can just take the next one, and I have accommodated for this, but I am not sure if I will have even lengthier delays with getting on a flight to NYC (via LA, Qantas) because I planned to leave Australia around about August 25 or 26, and I only just realised the other day that school goes back in the US around about this time. Does anyone know exact dates they go back to school on either coast? I for some reason thought summer vacation for American students would have ended right about the time I wanted to go, but perhaps not?1
Rather than the dates kids go back to school, the date you should be most aware of is September 3, which is the Labor Day holiday in the States. This is a major holiday with most people off from work and heavy travel time. Labor Day marks the end of the summer vacation season and most kids return to school immediately before or after this holiday.3
Thanks for your replies guys. I am only intending to fly into the states, into NYC actually, via LA as I said, around about August 25/26. I am hoping most people have already or will about the week after that, be flying a lot to get home from their vacations.I don't need to worry about Labour Day as I plan on flying straight out of New York to London, as with staff travel this is the easiest way to do it, rather than direct from my home city to London via Singapore. I need to be in London for August 30, so Labour Day shouldn't affect me.
And I know by the time I get back to the states, near the end of September, school will definitely be back in session.
4
You should be fine, even if you need to adjust flights. It sounds like, even if delayed, you'll have at least 3 days to get from arrival in LA to NYC for your departure flight to London. Most parents of school-aged children that I know use that last week before Labor Day to get kids ready to go back to school, staying near home to buy clothes that fit and making sure they have all the needed notebooks, pencils, etc. My impression is that air travel, whether for business or vacation, is no where near peak volume that week.6
Orbitz did a press release on this for 2010:"Orbitz Insider Index: The Top Five Busiest Travel Weeks (1)
1. Christmas Week (Dec. 19 – Dec. 25)
2. August, First Week (Aug. 1 – Aug. 7)
3. June, Fourth Week (June 20 – 26)
4. June, Third Week (June 13 – 19)
5. March, Third Week (Mar. 14 – 20)
One important note: While Thanksgiving Week (Nov. 21 – 27) did not make the top 5 list, November 24 (Wednesday before Thanksgiving) was the single-busiest travel day of the year, followed by September 3 (Friday before Labor Day) and July 2 (Friday before Fourth of July)."
7
I guess I'm weird but how does school start dates affect your vacation?
The OP is assuming that school start dates are uniform and that right before school starts, a lot of families will be flying home from an end-of summer vacation. The OP is using a travel company standby airfare, so will be bumped before any regular fare paying passenger is bumped. So, the OP wonders what is the likelihood of flights being full of those families, so the OP's odds of being bumped get a lot higher.
8
"The OP is assuming that school start dates are uniform and that right before school starts, a lot of families will be flying home from an end-of summer vacation. The OP is using a travel company standby airfare, so will be bumped before any regular fare paying passenger is bumped. So, the OP wonders what is the likelihood of flights being full of those families, so the OP's odds of being bumped get a lot higher."This is spot on, exactly what I was trying to get at! Thankyou!
Sounds like I should be ok with the dates I have chosen! If not, then it'll be more of an adventure then won't it!
Thanks everyone for helping me out :)
