These are tough times for travelers

We still took our family vacation that we take every year. I really do believe that the media has hyped this up and scared the public for nothing. my Dad and I figured it out, and between last years trip north, which is a 5 hour drive with a boat, and last years trip the difference just due to gas for the truck and boat was an extra 22 dollars. Now honestly if 22 dollars is going to be to much to take on, you probably should not be taking a vacation anyways.

Americians spent too much time traveling!!!! Staying grounded in ones own state is much better!!

We had to cut down on travel this summer and save money. We took a weekend trip to a nearby locale instead of a longer trip farther away. With the escalating airline prices I don't think I will be able to take my usual fall trip from West Palm Beach to Chicago to see my son either.
But what is much more disturbing, is the enormous price hike around Christmas time! My son is coming to West Palm from Chicago on the weekend of the 14th of December this year, $331.00 as opposed to the Christmas week, $560.00!!!!! We are forced to celebrate early as will numerous others. And these prices are the bottom prices booked at this time! I can just imagine what they will be like if booked later in the fall. I do understand that the airlines are struggling along with the rest of us with the sky high fuel cost, and I am not against bag fees and ads on my boarding pass, but I think they are going too far when families can not afford to see their loved ones for the holidays! Is it really necessary to double the price? I hope the government will step in and regulate the fuel prices or the whole country will come to a stand still.

It seems to me the best way to improve a failing industry, the airlines, is to make it easy for consumers to buy the product. Southwest is holding on to the idea that a full plane is a profitable flight. They fill the seats by making it EASY to fly on Southwest. The Bigger carriers are all in or close to another round on bankruptcy. They are adding fees, cutting flights, doing everything but posting a sign that says, "We don't want your business."

Maybe it is just me but the hassle factor still doesn't offset the price of gasoline. I used to be gold or platinum on three airlines and now I avoid them if at all possible. It is just too much trouble to be worth it.

If Amtrak was smart they would be capitalizing on this and promoting the stress free travel of cross country trains. It was the best trip I ever took. The time was longer but I was much more relaxed and the food was like a restaurant. The cost was competitive. With all the delays, cancellations, and extra fees I am not sure it wasn't just as fast now.

Maybe commercial aviation's time has passed. If you are going in a group of 4 or more look into a charter. They leave when you are ready, come back when you are done and are mostly hassle free. Cost works out at about 4 or more.

Just my thoughts

It seems to me the best way to improve a failing industry, the airlines, is to make it easy for consumers to buy the product. Southwest is holding on to the idea that a full plane is a profitable flight. They fill the seats by making it EASY to fly on Southwest. The Bigger carriers are all in or close to another round on bankruptcy. They are adding fees, cutting flights, doing everything but posting a sign that says, "We don't want your business."

Maybe it is just me but the hassle factor still doesn't offset the price of gasoline. I used to be gold or platinum on three airlines and now I avoid them if at all possible. It is just too much trouble to be worth it.

If Amtrak was smart they would be capitalizing on this and promoting the stress free travel of cross country trains. It was the best trip I ever took. The time was longer but I was much more relaxed and the food was like a restaurant. The cost was competitive. With all the delays, cancellations, and extra fees I am not sure it wasn't just as fast now.

Maybe commercial aviation's time has passed. If you are going in a group of 4 or more look into a charter. They leave when you are ready, come back when you are done and are mostly hassle free. Cost works out at about 4 or more.

Just my thoughts

I hate the airlines, hate 'em, hate 'en, hate 'em! They have become like insurance companies -- can't live with them, and can't live without them. I live in a rural area, and must travel 4 hours or more to get to a major airport for a flight (including TSA time), 5 to get to an airport that Southwest uses. Chicago to Fll this winter is 429 pp on American, now add horrendously high parking, or public transport to the airport from the hinterlands and extra for a bag. I actually can afford it; I am just so sick of every darned trip ranging from inconvenience to nightmare, that I just don't want to do it anymore. I haven't had a flight that went without a hitch since the month after 9/11!

It's funny how the media is reporting doom and gloom for this travel season. My wife and 3 children just finished a 16 day trip to Hawai'i to visit family and play in the sun. We left on June 24th and returned on July 10th.

We purchased our tickets back in early March, booking our flights out of Denver on US Airways. The lowest fare required that we connect in Phoenix before heading to Kahului, Maui. For our inter-island trip to Kauai, we booked reservations on Hawaiian Airlines. That trip required a stop over and change of aircraft in Honolulu to get to Lihue. I payed $2,924 and some change for 5 round trip coach tickets to get to Kahului and another $1,160 for the round trip to go from Kahului to Lihue and back. That's a total of $4,084. We planned it this way because it saved us the most money. We used Expedia to make the US Airways reservations and went directly to the Hawaiian Airlines web site to make the inter-island reservations.

The flight to Kahului via Phoenix went well. My only complaint is when US Airways put us on a TED flight to get out of Denver. When we got to Phoenix, we had to navigate the airport to get to our US Airways flight, which was located on an entirely different concourse. When we asked a tourist guide for help, he was confused and thought we needed to get back to the United concourse because our tickets were stamped with a United logo, but we managed to figure out what to do.

There was no food served on any of the flights, so we ate at each airport during each stop over. At the time we were traveling, none alcoholic drinks were still complementary on US Airways. We packed our own snacks to eat during the long haul across the Pacific and brought our own DVD movies to watch on our portable players. The seats were cramped on both the United and US Airways flights going out, but we managed. Both the United and US Airways flights going to Hawai'i departed and arrived on time or earlier than planned. The flights on Hawaiian were uneventful, although we were delayed by weather and a mechanical issue a couple of times. But the seats were more spacious and the flight attendants were much more friendly. None of our baggage got lost either coming or going, but we did have to watch our weights to keep each bag under 50 pounds to avoid paying weight charges on all airlines. Our flights leaving Lihue, Honolulu and Kahului were all delayed and we arrived in Phoenix 10 minutes late and Denver 45 minutes later than our planned arrival times.

Because I am from Hawai'i, I am able to stay with family when visiting the islands, which saves us a lot on expenses. This year, we visited my uncle in Maui, staying at his place in Haiku for 7 days, then we jetted off to Kauai to spend the rest of our time there staying with another uncle. My uncle in Kauai owns a condo in Kapa'a, which he let us use free of charge. Both of my uncle's are business professionals and have developed relationships with the owners of the local tourist attractions. I also have two more uncles on Kauai who own a deep sea fishing boat. They were kind enough to take me out on a long fishing trip to catch Aku and Ahi tuna. Many of the events we participated in were either free of charge or at a very deep discount. For example, we took a snorkeling trip to Molokini island in Maui which we didn't have to pay for. My uncle knew the captain of one of the charter companies and arranged for us to go on that trip free of charge. Normally that trip would run around $500 for a family of 5. We also took a free bicycle tour of Haleakala Crater thanks to my cousin, who runs a tour operation there. My uncle in Kauai arranged for us to take a helicopter tour of the island, again, free of charge because he knew the owner of one of the tour companies there. And we also were able to charter a tour boat to go snorkeling and do a dinner cruise on the Na Pali Coast, again all for free. There were many other such excursions that we took that we did not have to pay for, which was nice. We managed to save tons of money on our vacation.

Gas prices on Maui averaged $4.75 a gallon and on Kauai, it was lower at $4.55 a gallon. Rental car rates were ok... we rented a mini-van in Maui for $120/per week with fuel and a compact SUV in Kauai for $110/week in Kauai with fuel. Again, our costs were discounted because of my family connections.

FYI - I looked into booking the same trip back to Maui and Kauai for this December to see how prices have changed. The same trip with the exact same itinerary would now run us over $7000 for the airline tickets. That's nearly double what I paid earlier. With hotels running an average of $250 a night and not counting food and rental car expenses running about $250 to $275/week for a mini-van or mini-SUV, only the wealthy would be able to afford such a trip now days.

One more thing... although summer is the peak time for tourists to visit Hawai'i, we did not see many there, especially in Kauai. The tourist industry is hurting bad there and is expected to decline as we go further into the year.

We decided to go ahead and go on vacation this year, but we are not going as far as we would like. My job lately has been stressful so I told my husband that in order to maintain my emotional stability, we really should go somewhere. And besides, we haven't been on a vacation in about 3 years.
What better way to spend that rebate check that we got! lol

kristine 345962 ....hey it's only once a year and get hyped about the fuel prices ? tell the media to stick it up their arse about the high cost of anything go and see your son

I drive between two states for work. I have reduced my speed down to 55 on the Interstate to minimize the price gouging we are living under.
95 % of the cars that pass me are from out of state and have NOT slowed down at all. It is amazing

Maybe the embargo on Cuba could be ended and the American airlines could make some money with some great business to the island, where some ethanol refineries could be set up (just a thought).

I very recently took a cruise from Seatle to Alaska, having flown in from central Wisconsin and we had a great time. The airline portion was smooth and cruise went great. We have traveled a great deal and if you plan ahead and follow the suggestions from the airlines you should not have a problem.. If you are unlucky and run into weather related problems, don't blame the airline. They could really use some input from travelers or maybe someone who listens to the input. I think they make a big mistake in nickle and dimeing us to death. Put the meals and old luggage rules back and raise the fare. We want service, not a bunch of petty details to handle ourselves.

OK, people, let's all take a big breath.

First point: Southwest doesn't serve small markets. So, of course, a market Southwest serves has less of a price increase. It has very little to do with WN, and more to do with the size of the market and who the other players are. In fact, checking Orbitz and the WN web sites, I frequently find better fares on other carriers. I don't actively avoid WN, just look at them as what they are, the best marketers in the business.

Second: Cheap airfares are NOT built in to the bill of rights. You don't like the price, don't fly. Nobody complains when Wal-Mart makes a huge profit, but as soon as an airline does, the whining begins. Hopefully, airlines will continue to charge for the product, and traffic WILL thin, resulting in less congestion, fewer delays, etc. And maybe, just maybe, profitable airlines (In spite of Mr. Lovitt's protestations, even a cursory look at my legacy carriers 2nd quarter results show an operating profit, albeit a small one relative to revenues generated.)
This is not to excuse bad service; but me thinks the typical American's idea of bad service is driven more by the likes of Mr. Lovitt's pontificating then by facts. For instance: the US airlines run at the same or better on time rates then the 20 European airlines that report to the AEA, a voluntary reporting agency, and the AEA (European) airlines mis-handle DOUBLE the rate of bags, but somehow that gets lost in the shuffle. (Side-note: the actual number for US mishandled bags is about 7 per 1000. Yes, that's it. Of course, Mr. Lovitt et al would have you believe everyone loses a bag on every flight.) On-time means within 15 minutes. How many flights are 16 minutes, or 17? If the number were 20 minutes...well, you get my point. The industry typically runs at about 75% on time, which includes

Third: Congestion? You bet it's a problem, but a problem generated by to many small markets getting scheduled air service (most added in the last 20 years, and financed with cheap oil and beating down on airline costs, which means services in addition to wages and benefits). Hopefully, this rationalization of the systems will ameliorate the problem allowing airlines to reward shareholders AND provide a more pleasant travel experience. Prediction: turbo-prop's making a comeback to small airports in whistle stop style, replacing the the now un-economical direct RJ's.

Final thought: Yes, I work for a network carrier that has undergone painful re-structuring, but now has many good things going on--feedback from customers confirms this. So, I would ask the traveling public to keep statistics in perspective, question the allegedly knowledgeable writers (many of whom don't think past the first level of ignorance and by the way have an agenda of keeping us, the traveling public, in an uproar so their readership goes up or at least stays the same).

Cheers, and see you on the airways!

To finish the sentence at bottom of first paragraph: The industry typically runs at about 75% on time, which includes domestic and international flights.

maybe we can hitch a ride on the PROPHET ALGORE'S magical mystery plane. that fool burns up more fuel, causes more carbon emmissions in one week than i'll probably cause the rest of my life!

I am 56 years old and had my first vacation trip three years ago. I also had one the next year and that will probably be my last. I was a single mother still struggling on a single income. Yes, prices are awful and things are bad. Whining about how much gas prices and food prices and everything that has skyrocketed these last couple of years sounds silly to me. Worried about a vacation? Well I'm worried about paying my bills, my doctor bills, for medications and buying groceries. I had to give up my car all together because I could no longer afford it. Yeah, my summer sucks but worrying about vacations being shorter or having less money for them...let's just say I'd be happy to have that to worry about!

I bought a ticket from Spokane to Oakland on Southwest in January so could visit my nephew in San Francisco. I had to cancel the flight and did so without any hassle or charge. They gave me a credit for $262.00. Three weeks ago I rebooked to Oakland for $195. The difference in cost was credited to me. I will use it at Christmas time to help pay for my flight to Manchester, NH from Spokane on Southwest so I can hang out with my sister in Massachusetts. No extra charges, no problems with Southwest.

Northwest, on the other hand, charged me an extra $100. two weeks ago when I had to change my flight to Spokane from Milwaukee. Needless to say it's the last $100. they'll get from me.

I agree with grouse14 and Scott - I hope the GOV never regulates the airline industry. People complain about the government all the time, but as soon as they don't like something else, they want the GOV, the same GOV they don't trust, to bail them out. Never understood that!

Anyways, I say fly if you live near or are traveling to a major hub city. Otherwise, you are throwing away lots of money. I don't like the nickel and diming, either, but sometimes people expect too much from the airlines. To expect a $200 flight with increased gas prices (which don't only impact the fueling costs, but increases the cost of airline food and other overhead costs as well) is crazy. And some people bring way too much crap on a flight, which is driving the bag fees. Try some alternatives: train/bus, drive yourself or pick closer vacation destinations. You don't have to go to Disney if it's out of reach geographically/economically. Be creative and find nice places in your home state/region. To have so many options in one country, we are all "stuck on stupid" with the same travel destinations...and then people have the nerve to complain about the crowds. LOL!

This summer, my hubby and I drove to Chicago from Albany, NY just over 800 miles. Yes, it took 15 hours one way, but I own a Prius :-) Our entire trip, which lasted 10 days, including gas, tolls, food, museum trips, Taste of Chicago, Cubs and Sox games (no lodging because we were visiting my parents) was just over $600, and we spent less than $150 on gas for the entire trip! Our airfare alone on the cheapest airline would have been over $750 total. Even though we had to drive, we truly enjoyed each others company and got to see so much of the US on the road v/s the stress of packing (to not exceed max luggage weight), waiting in lines, and being sandwiched into airline seats. Last year, we did a road trip to northern Alabama (18 hr one way) to see his family (and drove to Atlanta for a few days), in similar fashion, and also had a great time seeing some pretty neat parts of NJ, PA, WV, TN, and GA on the way. We got lots of great ideas for places to visit once we have kids that were closer to where we live. It reminded me of family road trips when I was a kid and makes me question why families prefer schlepping the kids into crowded airports and planes, especially given the cost with more than 1 child. Why do that when you can have the pleasure of spending more quality time with your family in your own vehicle where you can play, eat, sing, laugh, talk and sleep(unless you are driving...lol!) however you'd like?

Finally the general public is catching on to what business travellers have known for years, flying is not fun! It's a crowded, hassle filled, and usually lousy experience that (yes) is negatively impacted when a monstrous thunderstorm pounds Chicago, Detroit or NYC during the hot summer months. It's also not free.
Many of the folks commenting to this article seem incensed about those big evil airlines bullying regular people by finally charging fares to cover the costs of their operations to fly from point X to point Y. It's just business 101 folks. Cheap and accessible air travel convenient from every U S market is not mentioned anywhere in the Bill of Rights. While I am not championing legacy airlines who for years gave their product away at no profit pandering to low cost carriers in select markets, the price of fuel now is an equalizer of sorts for the airline industry to right their pricing and cover operating costs on every flight. It's that simple.
If you have an affinity for flying Southwest, or United, or Virgin or whoever great! Pay up and reserve your seat now, just don't scream that you are being robbed because the carrier is charging you more than they did last year. It's the reality we all live with now for all of our goods and services thanks to $140 per barrel oil.

Another note to those who think airfares are high: The cost to travel by is 50% (yes, that is half) of what it was in 1978, the last year of a regulated industry. (I would argue that the industry is heavily regulated now, what with merger resistance, city and county government subsidies of low fare carriers, etc, but that is a comment for a future thread). It has dropped from 8 cents a mile to 4 cents a mile in constant 1978 dollars. In effect, the bus traffic has moved to the airlines and with it the industry has commodified it's product to meet this "demand" (which, as stated, has been financed with cheap oil, cheap financing, and cut backs in services and employee wages and benefits).

In 1978, an airline could make a profit with a 60% load factor. Seat pitch was larger, there would be a decent meal in coach, a spare gate might be available if a weather event caused a runway closure, etc. And yes, it was a much nicer experience which the traveler PAID FOR. According to an editorial in an on board magazine I was perusing on a recent flight, the average fare from ATL to LHR in 1978 constant dollars would be $2764. I just checked on the Delta web site, and right now I can buy a ticket for $1298.56, tax tags title out the door, leaving in two weeks with a one week stay. Bottom line, I love the fact that air travel is less expensive, but I don't expect to pay for beer and get Dom Perignon (sp).

The traveler has every right to expect courteous service (although how the res and CSR's do it day in, day out, is beyond me), and to get what they pay for, which in most cases is the cheapest flight possible from A to B. They should also expect to arrive with their bags (but don't forget those 30 minute connections booked on the on line discounter), and to be treated with courtesy, unless they are discourteous.

Why don't airlines (mine included, which hasn't yet started with the charge for a checked bag, thank revenue management) just charge for the bloody product and drop all this "fuel surcharge" crud? Fed-ex does. I'll tell you one reason: We the Sheeple simply look for the cheapest price, and don't consider the extra "fees" (really, the cost of doing business) that any particular airlines might charge. Then, We the Sheeple reserve the right to complain about things we are unwilling to pay for.

OK, start flaming away.

My plans haven't been affected at all. I usually don't travel during the summer unless I have a very good reason. I'll wait and do around Thanksgiving time (as I will again this year). However, this year I have a wedding in Winona, MN, and am a guest at a convention in Bethesda, MD. I made my ticket arrangements back in something like February of this year (at least 6 months out). Just for giggles and grins, I checked the air fares to the two airports involved (ATL-MSP-LSE and ATL-Dulles) for the same dates (I'm still far out enough that I don't have to worry about last-minute tickets), and the air fares were exactly the same as they were when I originally bought my tickets.

I flew from Portland Oregon to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on Alaska Air and Malaysian Airlines. A long trip but great service on Malaysian. A full length bed and great food. They also make a profit and treat you like a customer.

Maybe if our Airlines did the same the complaints would stop. Everyone understands that weather can effect flight times, if only we were not lied to in addition. I fly regularly to SanDiego from Portland returning on Friday evening. I always call to see if they are going to be on time. They always say yes and then we leave 2-4 hours late. It is always just another 20 minutes. The flight is due into Porland at just after 10:30 and I have not landed before 12: 30 a.m in the last 13 trips.

I personally have not traveled since Christmas 2004, when I visited with my family in Los Angeles from Portland, OR. Between employment problems and medical issues, I have stopped all vacation and holiday traveling altogether in order to keep my finances under control. I've also been fortunate to receive financial assistance for my medical bills, although one sister-in-law wonders why I don't come to visit for Christmas.

I wonder, in turn, where her head's at when I have the bills that I can afford the "luxury" of traveling. If one qualifies for financial assistance for medical bills, then it stands to reason that things like traveling would be contrary to my "qualifying" for assistance in the first place! On the other hand, both sister-in-laws complained recently about how money is tight (and yet neither has ever worked outside of home, both spent several thousand dollars on holiday travel last year, both pay for their childrens' education, etc.). I prefer the simpler lifestyle, and thus not traveling isn't a big deal for me.

My wife and 3 children just wrapped up a vacation to Hawai'i on July 10th. We spent 8 days in Maui and 8 more in Kauai to visit family. I was born in Honolulu and grew up in Hawai'i until I was 10, so I have many relatives who live in the islands. I now make my home in Denver. Because I have family in Hawai'i, we were able to stay with family rather than rent a hotel in Maui, and on Kauai, my uncle let us use his rental condo for free. We also did not have to pay for many of the activities we participated in due to family connections.

We bought our tickets back in March via Expedia and paid just under $3,000 for five round trip coach tickets on US Airways. The flight required a stop in Phoenix where we would transfer to another aircraft for the trip to Maui and the return flight back to Denver. We purchased our inter island trip on Hawaiian Airlines via their web site and spent another $1,100 for five round trip tickets to travel between Maui and Kauai via Oahu. Booking none direct flights saved us about $1,000. We also booked two rental vehicles. A mini-van for Maui and a compact SUV for Kauai. Rates ran about $250 per week, but I managed to get a deep discount thanks to family connections.

The flight out on US Airways was fairly uneventful. The only headaches we ran into were related to a baggage issue and an airline transfer issue. In Denver, one of our bags was slightly heavier than the 50 pound limit. My wife and I transferred some items to another bag to lighten the load so we would not have to pay a weight penalty fee. The second headache also involved our outbound flight to Phoenix. US Airways put us on a United TED flight out of Denver to Phoenix because, apparently, they code share and sometimes they do this if passenger loads do not fill their aircraft. When we arrived in Phoenix, we had to jump on an airport transfer bus to get to a different concourse to catch our US Airways flight to Maui. When we asked an airport greeter for information about our flight, he got confused because our tickets were stamped with a United logo and he thought we needed to go back to the United concourse to catch our flight. Luckily, I had the sense to check with another source and we soon figured out where we needed to be.

The inter island flights on Hawaiian were uneventful as well, although we did run into delays due to weather, traffic congestion, and one mechanical problem that forced us to leave late from our gate. But the aircraft were much roomier and service was great. None of the airlines provided food, so we packed our own for each flight when able. We even brought along our own entertainment in the form of MP3s and DVDs to listen to and watch on our portable devices. There weren't many amenities for coach passengers, but we didn't mind. The flights arrived on or nearly on time and service was adequate.

So, in my experience anyway, our recent trip went rather well. Of course, I recently checked to see what the same trip would cost if I were to book it now for travel in December. The same trip would now run us over $7,000 just in airfare. But with the ever increasing fuel prices, this shouldn't come as a surprise. One thing is for sure, we won't be visiting family in Hawai'i again for quite some time... a least not until fuel prices and airfare prices come down.