Pilot Flying J Designates a National Road Trip Day, Plans Celebration

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pilot Flying J is marking the start of the summer road trip season by declaring the Friday before Memorial Day weekend (May 24) as National Road Trip Day. The travel center operator will celebrate with a discount for guests.

From May 21-27, drivers can enter the promo code "ROADTRIP" in the Pilot Flying J mobile app to save an offer for $5 off their next purchase of $10 or more. The offer excludes purchases on fuel, alcohol, lottery and cigarettes.

"We are excited to celebrate the kick-off to the busy summer travel season with National Road Trip Day and to reward our guests with something to make their road trips even more enjoyable," said Whitney Haslam Johnson, chief experience officer for Pilot Flying J. "We strive to be the perfect road trip stop, providing guests with everything they need to have a successful trip, including clean bathrooms, a large selection of snacks, food and beverage offerings and even those easily forgotten items like phone chargers."

Consistently one of the busiest days of the year at Pilot and Flying J travel centers, locations see an increase in gas and food sales by nearly 15 percent on the Friday before Memorial Day.

To find out why so many people are road tripping, Pilot Flying J commissioned a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults who take at least one road trip per year. The study revealed that people opt for a road trip over other forms of transportation for flexibility and cost savings.

Specifically, the study found:

• The top reasons people take road trips are because it’s cheaper (57 percent), they have more control over the trip and plans (51 percent) and they like being able to stop whenever they want along the way (50 percent).
• Almost one-third of road trippers (31 percent) said they’d hit the road more often if they had a rewards program that made it cheaper to travel by car.
• Over two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) said that they would be more likely to stop at a rest stop that has mobile rewards and fuel discount programs.

The study also revealed road trippers' must-haves for a successful trip. The majority of respondents say the essentials for a trip are food, entertainment and clean restrooms.

Among those findings are:

• Three in five road trippers (59 percent) said that having good snacks and drinks for the road, finding great places to eat on the way, and finding clean bathrooms to use while traveling are the most important parts of a successful road trip.
• The top "road trip essential" snacks are chips and salty foods (52 percent), freshly made, grab-and-go foods (50 percent) and fast food options (49 percent).
• For millennials and generation Z, it's all about what happens in the car. They place more value on having music, audio books and/or podcasts to listen to (67 percent), good snacks and drinks (63 percent) and good conversations (52 percent).
• Meanwhile, generation X and baby boomers care about taking stops along the way, placing more value on finding clean bathrooms (67 percent), great places to eat (63 percent) and pleasant places to stop, rest and stretch their legs (56 percent).
• When making a stop for their road trip necessities, travelers primarily want to stop at all-in-one rest stops to save time and money (58 percent).

To learn more about National Road Trip Day, click here.  

Knoxville-based Pilot Flying J has more than 750 retail locations across 44 states.