Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Why is a higher price "leisure travel" airline ticket the result of the "business travel" slowdown?

 
Due to the pandemic, the business travel slowdown is expected to be longer lasting than originally thought, and in the meanwhile, get prepared to spend more money to fly anywhere, and I mean lots more money.  
Looks like this is the end of the need to visit with and recruit more customers in person, yet it's been determined that even the process of government can benefit with a greater efficiency at less cost with Zoom meetings.   
And as well, businesses have found that customers are happy with a Zoom one to one. 
 
The era of the cattle car flights with no room to sit comfortably is essentially over.
 Airlines are buying more wide body airlines for the luxury market, more room for all passengers, at a big price.  And the same airlines are buying wide body supersonic planes to jet to London faster than the Concorde ever did.  The price is expected to be $2,500 per ticket one-way.  
Now, profit conscious airlines are stripping the price of the airline ticket into what is essentially dividing the ticket as though the worth is an eights of an inch equivalent.   
The low and middle income will be yelling ouch when they have to pay the "surcharge" price of the fuel that a climate conscious world is deliberately limiting, as they have for the past year, when they have paid extra for food, drinks, and find their luggage can also incur extra cost.    
Of course,  the rich and well connected, whomever they may be, are not suffering.
As well, the middle and lower classes can still enjoy the travel gurus present their popular TV programs, also the TV chef gurus like Lydia.  
But if you are a global climate emergency zealot, keep in mind, TV travel gurus aren't participating in the climate change emergency by practicing less and eventually no dependence on fossil fuel directives.  Many of them continue to fly in a private plane at the courtesy of the destination they are visiting.  Even the cooking show gurus may not be saving the world from fossil fuels.  Not when it comes to choosing to fly in comfort, versus not flying and not filming any more of their cooking shows.  Some still choose to fly on planes that burn up fossil fuel, but they tout the superior small organic farm producers, usually  in a second world country aiming to claim fame with the ethnic dishes.
 
 You don't have to envy the wealthiest in your community for enjoying in person travel all over the world in comfort, not even when they are also buying the perfect food ingredients your favorite TV chef cooks. 
 If you can afford cable or dish or a satellite, you can still arm chair travel with your favorite TV travel guru, but there are no more crowded airports with those pesky security pat downs.  And you can add to your recipe collection with your favorite TV cooking gurus, even if you have to skimp and substitute when you purchase the ingredients needed to produce the perfect food.  
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Is the 21st century era of the Greyhound bus flights are gone for Leisure travel & Business travel slows due to digitals like Zoom

 
I can't think of anyone who enjoys flying scheduled anymore, First class, Business class is not what it once way touted to be, there are levels of Business class now.   The "Economy" class is now in levels, and don't expect any improvement if you pay for a "better Economy" class level, the "improvement" is minimal. 
This means, we in the 21st century are going back to the original concept of travel as a "luxury."  Now airlines are "ripping out seats" to provide a "better" flying experience.  And that means more $$$ per seat to make up for the lack of density.
 Very soon you can expect plane travel to include a "carbon tax." 
The need for the travel industry to promote a cheaper leisure travel will be greater with the regular price of scheduled airlines going up to the level of "travel is a luxury."   Especially since "business travel" is expected to slow considerably for the foreseeable future, for a number of reasons.  
Mid-sized and larger businesses are finding "digital" meetings are an improvement when it comes to meeting in person, the company promoting the digital meeting can control the "message" so much better to a larger segment of the market.   The expense of sending lower management employees to more than one client, which involves longer term hotel reservations and car rentals, are more things that are not cost effective.
 If the modern history of travel is any predictor, then we can expect to have another plane travel "breakthrough."  
What is it? 
I remember fondly the era of "charter flights" chartered by leisure travel companies, the charter was always to a specific international destination, or a specific part of the USA where certain kinds of weather can be expected, skiing, for instance, or fun on the beach.  These charter flights always included hotels, and it was up to the traveler to schedule a pickup service, or take local means of service to get to the hotel. 
The price was good and it was easy to book without any problems, if the charter company was a member of USTOA, the United States Travel Association, guaranteed a repayment in case the charter company went into bankruptcy.
If you book a tour with a Tour Operator that is recommended by your friend or travel agent, make sure that company is a member of USTOA, this same Travel Industry Association still offers a guarantee repayment if the company member goes bankrupt.

In this 21st century of pandemic, the savvy leisure travelers who were once Business travelers have continued to belong to their favorite airline's Frequent Flier programs, especially if you live in a community where a major airline still flies into, like Buffalo, N.Y. for instance, then traveling in the USA can be always with an upgrade, and if the airlines are pulling up seats, we can say these Frequent Flier members are enjoying luxury travel for less $$.

The hotel industry will undergo another change too, but that's a subject for another travel for less $$$ blog.