Traveling these days

[DLgal]

Literally every time I settle in to give it a go I get super irritated by some portion of the trip tilting in an odd way, take a break to regroup and just end up walking away thinking to myself, "My house is nice enough."

This made me chuckle because this is LITERALLY MY LIFE every time I start thinking about traveling anywhere in the last 3 years. It's like, "UGH, why is this so complicated and WHY is it THIS expensive for a stupid flight anywhere?"

I like where I live. People come HERE on vacation. I have Disneyland, and gorgeous beaches, (and snowy mountains now!). Nice pools, a brand new waterpark in my neighborhood. Why bother leaving?

But of course, my son asked for a WDW trip for his HS graduation present last year, and covid messed up those plans, and I promised we would go this year, but like, I don't wanna plan it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This made me chuckle because this is LITERALLY MY LIFE every time I start thinking about traveling anywhere in the last 3 years. It's like, "UGH, why is this so complicated and WHY is it THIS expensive for a stupid flight anywhere?"

I like where I live. People come HERE on vacation. I have Disneyland, and gorgeous beaches, (and snowy mountains now!). Nice pools, a brand new waterpark in my neighborhood. Why bother leaving?

But of course, my son asked for a WDW trip for his HS graduation present last year, and covid messed up those plans, and I promised we would go this year, but like, I don't wanna plan it.

Eh CA wasn't all that great to me. I certainly wouldn't tell someone to come to where I live when there's so many other places to see but CA is overrated so much to me. I'd love to explore different parts of the U.S. Why not take a cross country road trip?

The main advantage I see about CA is the ability to get to Hawaii, Fiji, Bora Bora, etc easier

 

[easyas123]

No, I have traveled but as I was getting annoyed during the planning I started to consider what it was that I used to enjoy so much back then. The flirting is gone, back then businesses used to woo us & I guess I realized now it feels like the process has all the romance promised by travel tinder, which ain't my scene. Sigh, I miss being wooed by destinations.

I'm not following, I think I misunderstood your initial post - do you mean you are looking for specials/promotions/BOGO type deals and they aren't there? If that is the case I think a lot of that is market driven, and that is not the (travel) market that we are in at the moment. I think, currently, the best anyone can do is decide on a budget and a destination - decide if it will work out and then head out. If you are looking to cast a net and see what kinda great deal you can get to various destinations, well I don't think we are in that kind of travel economy at the moment. I do think it is possible we may see that again but not right now.

 

[mousefan73]

As annoying the "high" price of airfare is, keep in mind it is one of the few things that has actually declined in price over the decades when you look at inflation, costs, and buying power (income). For a transatlantic RT ticket one pays the same today often less that one did 30 years ago.

 

[DLgal]

I'm not following, I think I misunderstood your initial post - do you mean you are looking for specials/promotions/BOGO type deals and they aren't there? If that is the case I think a lot of that is market driven, and that is not the (travel) market that we are in at the moment. I think, currently, the best anyone can do is decide on a budget and a destination - decide if it will work out and then head out. If you are looking to cast a net and see what kinda great deal you can get to various destinations, well I don't think we are in that kind of travel economy at the moment. I do think it is possible we may see that again but not right now.

I think what she is referring to is the up and down, chaotic nature of airfare and hotel prices. The "yielded pricing" model, if you will. It has become so unpredictable and random and rather than feeling like you got a good deal, you are constantly worried that after booking, the prices will drop massively, leaving you feeling cheated. That's how I feel, at least.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

As annoying the "high" price of airfare is, keep in mind it is one of the few things that has actually declined in price over the decades when you look at inflation, costs, and income. For a transatlantic RT ticket one pays the same today that one did 30 years ago.

I never really like the comparison to decades ago. Years and years ago only the wealthy could fly. It's why people wonder how in the world did the Home Alone dad afford his tickets. But the reality has been that travel especially airline travel has for long enough been accessible to the masses so who cares that pricing has gone down if comparing to decades ago? It should be less than it was when only the wealthy could fly. It means the wealthy have been able to see their income go further and allowed the rest to get into the game.

Prices to Europe for example were far less even before the pandemic but the recent surge in pricing is dependent on the travel demands and that the airlines can charge what they charge although airport fees of certain but major airports are part of it.

 

[easyas123]

I think what she is referring to is the up and down, chaotic nature of airfare and hotel prices. The "yielded pricing" model, if you will. It has become so unpredictable and random and rather than feeling like you got a good deal, you are constantly worried that after booking, the prices will drop massively, leaving you feeling cheated. That's how I feel, at least.

Ok. Well if that's the case I'd say we - the generic general consumer of travel - should book at prices we find compatible with our budgets when/if we come across them. I know I've been stymied by prices before and had to hold off on a travel purchase until my budget allowed for it.

 

[White Cat]

We need/want to get back and forth between Florida and Toronto this weekend. Just spent 5 mins on the phone and it’s $298US return each for the flights. I think it’s very inexpensive. And easy.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I think what she is referring to is the up and down, chaotic nature of airfare and hotel prices. The "yielded pricing" model, if you will. It has become so unpredictable and random and rather than feeling like you got a good deal, you are constantly worried that after booking, the prices will drop massively, leaving you feeling cheated. That's how I feel, at least.

Yes, well put, this is definitely a giant part of it, like no matter what I do I am mindful that there will be buyers remorse and I just never had that vibe before so I just back away. The whole thing is unsettling.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes, well put, this is definitely a giant part of it, like no matter what I do I am mindful that there will be buyers remorse and I just never had that vibe before so I just back away. The whole thing is unsettling.

I guess in that respects I can't relate much because we've always had that as a possibility over the years. 3rd party booking sites have employed dynamic pricing for a long time, so have hotels including redemption points.

If your main concern is about booking and then a lower price coming along I would just book what you feel is within your budget and stop checking afterwards. I understand maybe it's the actual booking that is the hardest step for you though.

We only check SWA because we know we can get points back or travel credits otherwise we just book. I haven't checked the airline pricing for our Air France or British Airways what good would that do to me? It's already booked. Now I do check flight changes but we've gotten e-mails related to that the two times its happened.

We have checked to see if our cruise would qualify for the sales they've had going on but nothing has beat the price we got last year due to that particular promotion. However cruises are a tad different in the "applying current promotion" deals as that is more common in the industry.

 

[mousefan73]

I never really like the comparison to decades ago. Years and years ago only the wealthy could fly. It's why people wonder how in the world did the Home Alone dad afford his tickets. But the reality has been that travel especially airline travel has for long enough been accessible to the masses so who cares that pricing has gone down if comparing to decades ago? It should be less than it was when only the wealthy could fly. It means the wealthy have been able to see their income go further and allowed the rest to get into the game.

Prices to Europe for example were far less even before the pandemic but the recent surge in pricing is dependent on the travel demands and that the airlines can charge what they charge although airport fees of certain but major airports are part of it.

30 years it wasnt the rich flying.. It was your normal family. We were VERY middle class and that was our summer vacation. Maybe in the 60s/70s it was wealthy. 80s flying was very assessable. What has changed is that many people are doing multiple short trips a year as they have higher and more disposable income. I make over double what I did 25 years ago and airfare for me hasnt really changed and those starting are also making about 25% more than I did back then. Europe summer peak flights are only about 200-300 more. Mainly as airlines are selling the higher booking classes (demand) -no need for sale classes.

what is also driving prices is simply lack of capacity on some routes. Asia good example. and also in the EU airlines are still not flying the seats they did pre-covid AND airports are limiting capacity due to worker shortages.

I am though surprised how low some domestic fares are.. Looking at flights to Honolulu for our cruise and surprising still low.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

30 years it wasnt the rich flying.. It was your normal family. We were VERY middle class and that was our summer vacation. Maybe in the 60s/70s it was wealthy. 80s flying was very assessable. What has changed is that many people are doing multiple short trips a year as they have higher and more disposable income. I make over double what I did 25 years ago and airfare for me hasnt really changed and those starting are also making about 25% more than I did back then. Europe summer peak flights are only about 200-300 more. Mainly as airlines are selling the higher booking classes (demand) -no need for sale classes.

what is also driving prices is simply lack of capacity on some routes. Asia good example. and also in the EU airlines are still not flying the seats they did pre-covid AND airports are limiting capacity due to worker shortages.

I am though surprised how low some domestic fares are.. Looking at flights to Honolulu for our cruise and surprising still low.

I take it you haven't seen the memes from Home Alone. 30 years ago was 1993 if you were flying a lot or to far off places like transatlantic then you were quite well off in comparison to many people. But the point really was your comparison to air travel pricing decades ago to saying they are comparable today but who was able to fly back then was a more limited field of people compared to as time has gone on and flying has gotten much more economical. So it's more like what in comparison to what people are talking about pricing now isn't really the same place in the world decades ago.

One meme basically just the general idea of flying to Paris for many families would have been more out of reach.


Yeah Hawaii isn't bad, I already posted what ours could be. It's nowhere near $8K even though I understand the fare class being spoken about was high. In any case Hawaii has benefited from the Southwest effect, the introduction of the airline into an area forces the other airlines to lower their pricing to be able to compete. There's already been a lot of stiff competition there for Hawaiian Airlines for example. Delta pricing is a few hundred less than it was when we went in 2016 before SWA came around.

As far as Europe whew yeah no we could have flown to Europe for around $800-$900 RT per person before the pandemic. Our flights to Europe this summer but booked last year are several thousand. Europe travel used to be more economical in the years leading up to the pandemic.

But we all know and can name numerous reasons why the airfare is high to certain places, that was less the point into me commenting about your looking back.

 

[Smugpugmug]

This made me chuckle because this is LITERALLY MY LIFE every time I start thinking about traveling anywhere in the last 3 years. It's like, "UGH, why is this so complicated and WHY is it THIS expensive for a stupid flight anywhere?"

I like where I live. People come HERE on vacation. I have Disneyland, and gorgeous beaches, (and snowy mountains now!). Nice pools, a brand new waterpark in my neighborhood. Why bother leaving?

But of course, my son asked for a WDW trip for his HS graduation present last year, and covid messed up those plans, and I promised we would go this year, but like, I don't wanna plan it.

I'm the complete opposite. I LOVE travelling but the flights are so expensive. I'm also not interested in traveling within the US (except for Arizona and New Mexico. Interested in doing a trip to those states someday) but international travel is nuts plus there's the issue of flight cancellations/delays. My neighbor recently told me about Icelandicair which has flights to Europe for less than $1000 and I'm almost tempted to book the $400 flight (not including checked bags) to Reykjavik that I saw for mid June but I've never heard of this airline so I would want to do more research.

I would probably feel similarly to you if I lived so close to Disneyland but nope. Just Maryland.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My neighbor recently told me about Icelandicair which has flights to Europe for less than $1000 and I'm almost tempted to book the $400 flight (not including checked bags) to Reykjavik that I saw for mid June but I've never heard of this airline so I would want to do more research.

For a short time like maybe 2 years Icelandair had a non-stop from my airport to Reykjavik. I was really tempted to do that but we hadn't really thought about Iceland. They removed the non-stop option probably because not enough people used it but we did know a group of people who did that flight. They loved Iceland. Nowadays with so many cruises going there I wish that option was back around. It's rare to get non-stop that far for being in the middle of the U.S. I'd still go there though someday.

They didn't have any complaints about Icelandair from what I remember.

Keep in mind Iceland is an expensive country to visit so while you might be able to find flights lower it will be quite pricey to be a tourist. People may not remember but Iceland was one of the countries that opened tourism first during the pandemic but only to those who were wealthy.

 

[Smugpugmug]

For a short time like maybe 2 years Icelandair had a non-stop from my airport to Reykjavik. I was really tempted to do that but we hadn't really thought about Iceland. They removed the non-stop option probably because not enough people used it but we did know a group of people who did that flight. They loved Iceland. Nowadays with so many cruises going there I wish that option was back around. It's rare to get non-stop that far for being in the middle of the U.S. I'd still go there though someday.

They didn't have any complaints about Icelandair from what I remember.

Keep in mind Iceland is an expensive country to visit so while you might be able to find flights lower it will be quite pricey to be a tourist. People may not remember but Iceland was one of the countries that opened tourism first during the pandemic but only to those who were wealthy.

One of the airports near me actually added nonstop flights to Reykjavik
very recently. That's how the conversation started with my neighbor.

I'm most likely not going to book it but man I was tempted. That price is cheaper than flying to Los Angeles for the exact same time. I'm not a huge cruise person but I would totally do an Iceland trip if I had the means to do so.

 

[Moliphino]

I'm the complete opposite. I LOVE travelling but the flights are so expensive. I'm also not interested in traveling within the US (except for Arizona and New Mexico. Interested in doing a trip to those states someday) but international travel is nuts plus there's the issue of flight cancellations/delays. My neighbor recently told me about Icelandicair which has flights to Europe for less than $1000 and I'm almost tempted to book the $400 flight (not including checked bags) to Reykjavik that I saw for mid June but I've never heard of this airline so I would want to do more research.

I would probably feel similarly to you if I lived so close to Disneyland but nope. Just Maryland.

I just flew Icelandair to Belgium in October. It's no-frills (we did the fare with one checked bag, which still did not include a meal), but was completely fine. Connecting through Iceland is really easy. I also flew them to France in 2007. I would be cautious about flying through in winter, though, due to the weather.

I also like Aer Lingus, since you get to go through US customs in Dublin on the way home. SO much nicer and faster than customs in US airports.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

One of the airports near me actually added nonstop flights to Reykjavik
very recently. That's how the conversation started with my neighbor.

I'm most likely not going to book it but man I was tempted. That price is cheaper than flying to Los Angeles for the exact same time. I'm not a huge cruise person but I would totally do an Iceland trip if I had the means to do so.

It'd be hard to pass up that great of a flight price no doubt! Especially if you're looking at domestic travel and the bang for your buck.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I just flew Icelandair to Belgium in October. It's no-frills (we did the fare with one checked bag, which still did not include a meal), but was completely fine. Connecting through Iceland is really easy. I also flew them to France in 2007. I would be cautious about flying through in winter, though, due to the weather.

I also like Aer Lingus, since you get to go through US customs in Dublin on the way home. SO much nicer and faster than customs in US airports.

Was your experience with Aer Lingus good?

I've know one person who has flown them and liked them but haven't known any others who have used them.

 

[RogueX]

I'm the complete opposite. I LOVE travelling but the flights are so expensive. I'm also not interested in traveling within the US (except for Arizona and New Mexico. Interested in doing a trip to those states someday) but international travel is nuts plus there's the issue of flight cancellations/delays. My neighbor recently told me about Icelandicair which has flights to Europe for less than $1000 and I'm almost tempted to book the $400 flight (not including checked bags) to Reykjavik that I saw for mid June but I've never heard of this airline so I would want to do more research.

I would probably feel similarly to you if I lived so close to Disneyland but nope. Just Maryland.

I flew Icelandair in April last year for a vacation to Iceland vacation. It was a good airline to travel on, my main issue though was that it was really hot on the flight. Otherwise, I'd fly them again.

 

[Moliphino]

Was your experience with Aer Lingus good?

I've know one person who has flown them and liked them but haven't known any others who have used them.

Yeah, generally good experiences with Aer Lingus. I've flown them to Munich, Rome, and Paris over the past few years and we're flying with them to Madrid in April. It helps that they fly out of Hartford now, which is way more convenient than Boston, though I have flown them out of Boston, too.

I had one really annoying issue. When we went to Rome we flew overnight when Europe was starting Daylight Saving Time, so the time change was occurring during our flight. Aer Lingus apparently didn't consider this when originally making their flight schedule. About a month out I got a notification that our connecting flight was changed and now we'd have like an 8 hour layover in Dublin instead of about 1.5 hours. I was confused, as our original connection was still bookable, then realized that they hadn't accounted for spring forward and that connection would've only been about 30 minutes. They didn't do anything to compensate us for that lost time. We had thought we'd arrive in Rome that day with time to explore, instead we got to the hotel and went to bed.