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Save for perhaps a new house or car, few one-shot expenses cost more than a big annual vacation. By the time you add up airfare, hotel, rental cars, restaurant meals and admission to attractions, it's rare that you'll spend less than four figures per person on a vacation of five days or more.
Are fuel prices, the weakening dollar and a soft economy making your rethink your summer travel plans? Are you staying close to home? Are you doing anything at all?
#1 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 12:51 PM EDTNo one said life would be as easy as it was in the past. We have a weak to non-existent energy policy so now we are forced to tighten up and become more efficient. It took a while but we were warned and guess what, gas will never be $ again because oil will never be $60/barrel again. We have to get better at becoming less dependent on the oil nations, us included, and as a country united we need to think and plan our way out of $ gas. Will we, think not but we were warned! Too spoiled for too long so now we have to dance to our own music. We have limited nuclear power, less wind, less hydro, less wave and less sun powered options1 Are we surprised? Look around the world, does anyone have it together? Only the Arabs and they don't want to give it away at less than $125 this year and $138 next year and $150 the following year. Gas will go to$5.00 in 2 years, has to as demand from the world outruns the ability to supply and the desire to supply at $125/barrel, Now pay $150 and there will be more supply, simple, pay $200 and there will be lots of oil available. Shame on the USA and I love my country but we are led by the dipsticks in Washington and the oil is in the Middle East, Mexico, Africa and Alaska. The dipsticks can't reach that far anymore. China and India are gonna have our jobs and our oil. Shame on the best country in the world!
If it were only gas prices that have gone up, it would not affect my travel. Everything has gone up, however, and has stretched the household budget so much that taking vacation for me will entail a few days break from work at home. Unfortunately prices on everything have increased to the point that small businesses absorb what they can, but have to pass some of the costs onto the consumer, so people are being pinched in every direction. Oil companies must be exempt from absorbing any of their own costs. I've heard that if the hurricane season is bad and oil refinaries are damaged, that could increase gas prices to 6.00 per gallon this summer. Why can't they absorb their own costs while they're making the largest profits in their history? How can Bush let all of America suffer this way? In 2000 I had signs all over my car that said, "If You're Not Filthy Rich, You Can't Afford Bush". Unfortunately I was right. What's Bush doing about all this? Smirking...
When will people stop blaming the president for our countries troubles. Congress and the Senate run this country. Clinton tries to open Alaskan oil fields, Congress killed that. Bush tried to open Alaskan oil fields, gulf oil fields, and the sand and scale oil fields in western states. Congress killed those also. Bush also tried to open the abandoned military bases to build refineries Congress killed that also.I for one believe we as Americans should look at Congress and the Senate and start asking them why. Seems to me the presidency is nothing more than a figure head and fall guy for when things sour for the country.
Do not blame Bush. He has taken the war to the terrorists in the name of the USA, our fallen people and in the name of "cheap oil" He may be a flunked out National Guard pilot, an ex-drunk, an ex cocaine addict and an ex-cheerleader but he is the only recent president to take it to them. Oil firms make maybe <10% on a huge base with a large capital investment. Our state and fed tax on gas is maybe another 10%. We need alternative sources, renewable sources not more dependency on the Arab nations.
Wait until the Democrats raise your/my taxes for the coming socialized US of A! Then you will have high fuel, high taxes, welfare, long doctor lines, poorer service, longer fuel lines and more attacks apon our soil.
Bush is not smart enough to be the problem, we are the problem. He can't control his habits no less our oil habits.
Until we have an intelligent plan we are toast.
Sorry, don't mean to offend cheerleaders.
You can blame Congress and the Environmentalists. If you want more oil you have to drill for it - offshore and in Alaska and in dig in areas where there is oil shale. If you don't then prices for foreign oil will continue to go up. Putting Obama in the White House will guarantee that.
I was planning a weeklong road trip over 4th of July from CA to MT to UT & then back to CA. It's an annual tradition for a lot of my family. This year, it's been scrapped. Everyone who was planning on making the trek has cancelled specifically because of gas prices.
#2 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 4:43 PM EDT
I really don't have a choice when I travel anywhere. I live in Alaska and flying is how you go. If you drive from Anchorage, it's a 40 hour drive, through Canada, to reach Seattle. It's a 3 hour flight.
United has announced their pull out effective Sept., Frontier is only here during the summer months. I usually make 3 or 4 trips out of Alaska per year, this year it'll be 3 because I have to. But I'm cutting every where else, no nice hotel (B&Bs, friends couch, etc). Trying my best not to have to rent a car, using friend's and family. I've seen my price for leaving the state triple in the last 3 years.
If the price continues to rise, I foresee relocating from Alaska to a home in the 'Lower 48' just so I can be nearer to friends and family, without dealing with the unfriendly skies.
#3 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 8:04 PM EDTI booked the perfect flight eight months in advance. I researched the price and the flight times and booked a flight that was only 2.5 hours to my destination. Now United has cancelled my flight and rebooked me so that I now have to fly 5.0 hours to get to my destination and arrive two hours later. I don't want to be in the plane an extra two hours. I booked in advance to avoid these delays.
#4 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 9:01 PM EDTWaaaaaa!!
Unfriendly skies? Hardly...try unfriendly oil companies...try the law of supply and demand....it's not that difficult to understand if you study the theories of economics....Airlines are not to blame for higher fares, cut routes and such... It's all about big oil and supply and demand.
#5 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 9:12 PM EDTWhen I was growing up a "vacation outside" was a luxury. Few families of four could afford plane tickets. Perhaps it will return to that era again. Local residences will start supporting local attractions or those closer to home. Our boom 'vacation' industry will need to downsize to fit the decreased demand of overnight stays and airline costs. In the end the 'golden days' of paying simply with a credit card for anything you want anywhere may be coming to an end. We have become somewhat spoiled with availability to excess credit that some people find difficult to repay.
Much wiser decisions need to be made now to ensure the 'true necessities' of life like food and housing are being met. As we reduce our food consumption due to cost, we will start to become smarter in our choices and thus healthier. Perhaps kids will need to return to walking to school to cut fuel shortages for school buses, thereby reducing obesity rates in kids as well. As less service jobs are available in the travel industry and less food needs to be grown, less jobs exist for those President Bush says 'no American wants to do'. This will help reduce the attraction for illegal immigrants to come to the US.
We survived doing with a lot less in the 'good ole days'. Current generations can do so as well. We don't need to travel half way around the world to do what we usually can find in our backyard. Let us try to look at the 'better' side of this fuel shortage and airline nonavailability. Sometimes less does more for us.
#6 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 9:45 PM EDT
Hi...
Yes I also think the rates and service has gone extremely ridiculous, not to mention why; the fuel... the oil... now everything else especially foods and supplies, home constructions supplies and so on and so on, has gone so sky-rocketed high it's impossible to get to go around anywhere and at these rates, I can't even plan a next vacation.
Living in Hawai has advatages and alot of draw backs, we depend on the aircrafts for travel, since we don't really any have ferries that go island to island (especially mine), and having the major businesses and top specialists on one particular island (not mine), we have no choice but to abide if and when we can afford it.
It would have been greatly appreciated from the airlines to give us local (kamaaina with Hawaii drivers lic.) a fare thats been a norm for serveral years especially if we have to travel to neighboring islands for business or medical reasons, but no! Everyone has to suffer and it's not getting better with them raising the prices with every week or so, good grief!
When it use to be a skip and a hop for a very nice reasonable price on these airlines, it's now costing about the same as going to the mainland, (almost there)... What's up with that?!
I'm suppose to continue my medical travels well into the year at once a month untill Sept or up to Nov or Dec., but I can't even afford my next appointments travel now, so I will have to stop my treatment from this month on.
And I was planing a vacation to the west coast for next summer... no thanks now to these rates.
I certainly don't appreciate the raising costs as much as anyone else, and I do understand the costs of maintaining and servicing of the aircrafts, but at least give us (especially for medical reasons) locals a chance to be your regular traveling passinger again.
Are you not interested in keeping dedicated riders? This goes well for some of the rent a car places too, Geez.
I hope to speak for all of us here in the Islands in need of medical travels...
#7 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 9:48 PM EDTIn March my husband booked flights for us to go from Charleston, SC to Jackson Hole, WY. He booked through Expedia on Delta. Since then Delta has changed our return flight 4 times including the last change which had us arriving in Atlanta at the exact same time we should be leaving Atlanta for Charleston. For 5 straight days my husband has tried to seek resolution through Expedia and has been left "on hold" for at least an hour each time. Yet, when you look at the Delta web site and put in our departure and arrival dates, there are plenty of flights on Delta to get us home. The only catch I can see is that Delta is now charging 3 times the rate we paid in March. Is Delta giving Expedia the run around because our ticket prices are so low? Are they waiting for other folks to pay the higher rates? Whose to blame?? You can bet that Expedia will not get my business next time. We've been loyal to Delta for over 20 years and where does that get us? Trust me, we will get this resolved and to our satisfaction, we've been very nice about this...but nice only seems to go so far!!!
#8 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 10:07 PM EDTI would call Delta directly and tell them, nicely, you have an itinerary which no longer works. They should change your flight(s) to something more appropriate without any change fees. At least, that has been my experience. This has happened to me several times and I have had no trouble getting the appropriate connecting flights.
I've already cancelled two summer trips that involved flights. I'm driving two hours away to the Texas coast for a week and otherwise sticking close to home for the rest of the summer.
#9 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 10:12 PM EDTFolks --- think about this!
The airlines (and other industries) are in a death spiral over these horrendous costs. This is no exaggeration. The airlines are in one of the toughest businesses in the world ... no lie. Under the circumstances, lending them our support and indulgence seems most appropriate. Sure, we passengers are facing real inconvenience. Complaining doesn't help, and blaming is pointless in this situation. Suggestion: hunker down, ride out the crisis, and hope for the best. God help the airlines ... I hope we *have* airlines after the dust settles. Really.
#10 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 10:27 PM EDTBarry: Support the airlines? Are you kidding? I agree with your observation that the airlines are in a death spiral and, with the way they are treating passengers these days I believe we should do everything we can to accelerate that spiral. I am not sure yet what the solution to this problem is, but the status quo is definitely not acceptable. For the short term, I don't plan to fly on airlines at all if I have any other reasonable option. Maybe the day will come when only the rich can afford to fly, but that might be a boon for some forms of public transportation (as in Europe). I believe we need to contribute our views and ideas to a future national commission charged with restructuring this industry--if there is, in the end, anything left to restructure.
Dr. X.
I'm not sure what planet you live on, but here on earth, a business that continuously sells it's product at a loss will not be selling the product for long. I happen to work for one of the largest US carriers and we have struggled to compete in a market where travellers like you seem to feel entitled to fares below our cost of fuel. The great and mighty Southwest airlines would be losing money hand over fist if they didn't have the price of fuel hedged. You love to complain about the fees and the decline of service, but at the end of the day, you make your buying decision based primarily on price.
I can't understand why this seems to be the only industry where people feel entitled to pay below cost for the service they receive. The only reason we can even offer these fares is because of the travellers at the other end of the spectrum that pay above cost for premium service or for last-minute fare purchases. And before you start complaining about how unreasonable we are about the walk-up fares we charge, remember that our product is perishible--as soon as that door is shut, any unsold seats are lost forever--we can't put them on the sale racks with last season's or last year's model and sell at clearance prices.
I'll be the first to tell you that we have a lot of work to do as a company and as an industry to do things better, but I can't think of another industry in this country that has a bigger disconnect between our cost structure and the price our customers pay for a service. Keep in mind that since deregulation our fares (adjusted for inflation) have been flat or even fallen, while our cost structure has more than doubled. My company's fuel bill has tripled just since 2000--with only a fraction of that cost passed on to our customers.
Think before you complain.
Customers need to make a choice:
Either tell the airlines to raise the prices and charge what is REALLY required to run the airline - not cancel flights, not cut services, etc... - like all other businesses do.
Or the customers will need to just realize that they are getting what they are not really paying for - if they don't want to pay what it really costs to run the planes - then they will have to deal with the other cuts the airlines have to make to keep the planes in the air.
There is no free lunch. Business is Business and if they can't make what's necessary on what they charge for their product - they will have to cut somewhere to balance the books.
I couldn't agree more with Barry - the airlines are getting hit the hardest. It is not cheap to take those planes up - we do need to support them if we expect to keep our airlines in the air..... good post Barry!
I found the perfect cruise for a solo traveler in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, the airfare is more than the cost of the cruise. Maybe next year.....!
#11 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 10:28 PM EDT
Just returned from a American Airlines flight from Kansas City to Quito, Ecuador. Out of 6 flights scheduled 7/11/07 only 1 retained it's original flight # and it was delayed 5 hours because the crew needed more bed time in Quito.
Our outbound flight was also delayed 5 hours due to weather and the plane needing to refuel in Wichita after circling Kansas City. This delay guaranteed a no show in Quito that night which caused a rebooking for the next morning. Using emergency exit rows we made it to Quito the second day. Of course this shorted our plans which included a pre booked visit to an Ecuador cloud forest resort.
What really made our exit from Ecuador difficult was that we were never notified at our hotel that our flight would not leave until noon. An early wake up at 3 AM in order to be advised of our fate at 4:30 AM for a previous scheduled 6:30 AM flight.
Just forunate that we made it home at midnight and there wasn't any bad weather to keep us from landing after 21 hours of an adventure in flying in 2008.
#12 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 10:30 PM EDTI found the perfect cruise for a solo traveler in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, the airfare is more than the cost of the cruise. Maybe next year.....!
#13 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 10:30 PM EDTI have cancelled all flights home to see my kids because of the gas prices. The oil tycoons don't care how these prices affect families
#14 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 10:32 PM EDTWe've booked a trip to Portugal in October. Seems like every weekend Delta changes one flight or another. So far we are still going, but if they hit us with hefty fuel surcharges I won't be too surprised if we cancel. We've been traveling internationally 2-3 times a year, but now this may be the last European vacation for a while.
Now it's driving distance getaways in the Prius.
#15 - Wed Jun 4, 2008 10:41 PM EDTI wish that the airlines would just raise the cost of the tickets to reflect the real cost of the flight and stop all of the cuts in service, flight manipulations, delays, etc...
Just charge what it costs to deliver what I am paying for - a flight that gets me to where I need to go - at the time you tell me I will get there - without the drama of cancellations - without continued cuts in service - and on long flights a real meal not a bag of 5 peanuts.
#16 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 12:16 AM EDTThe cost of all of this is due to supply and demand. As long as people continue to drive, buy, and refuel cars that get 15 MPG, crude oil will stay high, meaning air travel will only get more expensive. I agree with JRix, get the Prius and drive.
#17 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 12:23 AM EDT
I gave up on the airlines after after a "wand" stuck down the front of my pants
and being asked to remove my shoes.
Every year 6 to 8 of us would drive to Canada from La Crosse, WI for a fishing
trip. This year we have cancelled the trip due to high gas prices. We will stick
close to home and fish the rivers in the area.
#18 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 4:14 PM EDTI had planned to take my 7 year old grandson to Jamaica but have learned that now in addition to the increase in airfare, the airlines are no longer offering a child's fare. Basically as long as they occupy a seat, kids will be charged an adult fare regardless of age.
#19 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 4:16 PM EDTI live in northeast PA and and we travel to the Jersey shore (Cape May) a destination where many of us in this part of the country grew up summering. I have several friends that no longer travel to the Jersey shore because of the increasing gas prices. We are going this year but it will be our last due to the insane gas prices added with the nearly $2,000 house rental fee. I had invited relatives to come to our beach house (from Virginia!) That is OUT!
These gas prices are effecting so many other prices, but to answer the question, we are traveling this summer but we have cut down our summer travels from one vacation trip + 3-5 road trips to only the one vacation and one road trip
#20 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 4:20 PM EDTThe problem is not that the cost of your airline ticket is not a true reflection of the cost of flying but rather that the major airlines have never operated under conditions where any strategy was necessary to be profitable. Obviously some airlines operate better than others and those will be the airlines that survive (Frontier Southwest etc.). The Americans and Deltas have been struggling to catch up with these better managed and operated low cost carriers since their inception and never have. And customer service is most definately a major part of the better managed airlines.
#21 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 4:23 PM EDTSouthwest did a superb job in the locking in of fuel prices for a couple of years. I believe that is coming to an end as well so they may face similar fuel problem costs as the balance of their competitors.
Southwest is a good airlines, same planes, same parts, same training, efficient turnaround, on-time, luggage control is good, no frills no thrills and very safe to fly.
The efficient will survive and the others will die off.
Same for our auto makers,
Same for our industries.
We need to evolve and become efficient and survive unless you speak arabic then you can ignore this post!
Stop the waste and find renewable alternatives.
Meanwhile "man up boy" for the ride as we have just seen the beginning!
Wait until the terrorists compound the cost problems with an all out attack on the source and the infrastructure!
$ would look good in the near future.
Maybe we need global warming as fuel oil costs will be too high to support our winter needs!
I live in Florida so the walk to the beach for vacation is 2 miles away, may even ride the bike or take the motorcycle.
We need to enjoy what is close to us, $4.00 fuel for example, can't wait because it will change only in the up direction.
Europeans pay maybe $6 to $8 per gallon while those in Venezula pay maybe .25 a gallon. Chavez has a lot of oil and gas and he can control his people for a while with lower fuel costs.
My wife went there a few years back and she said there were many beautiful vacation spots and nice cities and towns and good warm people so perhaps we should trade places with them for a vacation, swap homes for 2 to 3 weeks lowering lodging costs and smuggle some oil back!
My family was planning trips to see family, around 540 miles one way, and we are pretty much canceling these. Before we thought of nothing of jumping in the car for such a trip. We have a mini-van and a compact car. The compact car cannot hold the kids, dog, and luggage while the minivan is to costly to drive (minivan gets 21mpg, car gets 35). We are looking for recreation areas close to home now for family outings.
#22 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 4:38 PM EDTWe're not curbing any vacation plans. I guess we're fortunate because our budget isn't as tight as others. I don't like spending the extra money on gas but in the grand scheme of things, over the course of a week, it's money that I'd be spending on something else that I probably didn't need. We work hard, have a great home for our family, and we're going on vacation as usual. The media makes it look like everyone is losing their homes and can't feed their families. I honestly don't know anyone that's living any differently then they did 2 or 3 years ago. It's our responsibility as adults to plan for the future so that we can take care of our family when the economy changes. I think people use gas prices and the over-dramatized stories the media puts out about foreclosures and the economy as an excuse for having lived irresponsibly for so many years.
#23 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 4:48 PM EDT
Consider yourself lucky, not all people our as fortunate as you. Many people lose jobs through
no fault of their own and many people have family and medical situations that they must deal
with which were not expected. I wish you the best and hope never nothing ever happens to you
to expose you to the "over-dramatized stories" you hear and read about in the media.
Talk about over "over dramatized", Dan. For every one person who lost a job through no fault of their own or were hit with unexpecte medical expenses, there are probably a dozeon (or a hundred) who are struggling primarily because they bought too big a house, drive too expensive a car, or have too many toys they bought on credit.
If nothing else, maybe this rise in prices will get us to adjust our expectations for life back to reasonable levels....
We were going to do the once in a lifetime trip from Cal-Ore-Wash-Canada-Montana- Wyo-Utah and back to Cal to see all the biggies Crater Lake, Banff, Vancouver, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon. We were even going to pay the $1,071 in fuel and camp most of the way. It's not really the fuel cost although we here in Calif. pay the most in the country (around $5 per gal). It is the overall uncertainty- am I going to need that money later? Work slowdown etc? We are going to stay closer to home- rent a sailboat for the day- take a short private plane flight, take the kids to an amusement park, perhaps a hot air balloon ride and let the kids sign up for some city sponsored recreation like taking fencing lessons, dog obedience classes. We're bummed but maybe another year...
#24 - Thu Jun 5, 2008 4:52 PM EDTI live in the northeast part of Pennsylvania and as like most people in this part of the country we make the long trek to the New Jersey shore each summer for its beautiful beaches (we favor Cape May, New Jersey) I have summered at the Jersey shore like most people from this area since I was a baby, but now... I hear more and more of my friends vowing that they are no longer making the trip due to outrageous gas prices.
Our family will be making the trip this year but it will be at the expensive of cancelling 3 day trips that we also take in the summer. Our children are very disappointed that we can not make all of our usual summer destination points of interest, however they do understand that gas prices are just too expensive and we had to make cuts. I don't even want to mention the increase in food prices! Our family had to cut cut back our travel this year.
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