We Hope You Enjoyed Your Flight -- Full and Late

Sept 1, 2007 — -- It has been a summer of record delays and inefficiencies at airports across the country. As airlines cut costs, fewer planes are flying at higher capacities, making for longer lines and more headaches for passengers.

The airline industry is expected to profit $4 billion this year -- but customers are angrier than ever.

This summer, nearly a third of all flights have arrived late, a record number have been overbooked, and lost luggage complaints are up 43 percent over last year.

"We've got the airlines trying to do everything on the cheap. They have too few people trying to do too much for too many passengers," said John Nance, ABC News' aviation consultant. "There's no question the airlines should be hiring more people."

The airlines say some of the delays are actually caused by more and more private jets sharing the same runways as commercial planes, creating a backlog for takeoff.

And according to some aviation experts, overworked air traffic controllers operating with out-of-date radar systems are only adding to the gridlock on the runways and in the air.

"We expect 100 percent performance from them 100 percent of the time," Nance said. "They don't have the right equipment, and for the average passenger this means that if we don't get involved nationally it is going to continue to deteriorate."

All of this airport anxiety may be part of the reason 30 million Americans are hitting the roads, rather than taking to the skies, this Labor Day weekend.

There is good news for those choosing to get behind the wheel: Gas prices are now the lowest they've been all summer, down 23 cents from last year.

Major airlines confirmed to ABC News that there are overbooked flights this weekend around the country.

ABC News' Andrea Canning contributed to this story.