This weekend we read about deals based on economic misfortune, frequent-flier program woes that don’t seem to be stopping the enthusiasm of members, and mistakes cropping up on online travel sites and why.
Travelers find deals amid financial crises
One country’s problems might also provide a benefit for tourist — lower prices. While European hotel room costs are rising across most of Europe, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal and Greece are seeing bargains that are still getting better.
Economists say these countries are in desperate need of tourist dollars as they pay back bailout loans and attempt to right their economies. Last year, international tourism rose 6.6% worldwide, surpassing the pre-crisis peak, according to the World Tourism Barometer from the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization. And although Europe saw overall increases in tourists and hotel room rates, it was the only region worldwide that didn’t rebound to pre-2009 levels (it remained 2% below the pre-2008 peak). “The U.S. has seen green shoots of recovery, but other countries were hit pretty hard, and it’s still bad for them,” says Daniel Hamilton, the director for the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University. “They’re quite desperate to get tourists, more so than usual.”
Frequent-flier programs lose some fans
As frequent-flier programs grow, so do their complaints. Is that because they are growing worse or just getting bigger with the same percentage of problems.
Next month marks the 30th anniversary of American Airlines’ introduction of the first frequent-flier program. And despite complaints from Spear and other fliers, the popularity of the programs hasn’t waned. They’ve grown from their original mission of building brand loyalty among fliers to billion-dollar revenue generators that lure non-fliers and are vital to an airline’s profitability.
A USA Today analysis — which includes statements by airlines and a review of documents they filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission — shows that the number of members who have signed up for U.S. airlines’ frequent-flier programs exceeds 311 million.
Many of the airlines’ most important customers, frequent business travelers, are grumbling, though. They’re bothered by non-frequent fliers reducing the availability of seats on planes by earning miles with credit cards and in other ways that don’t involve taking a flight. And they’re annoyed by being unable to book a free flight at the lowest mileage-redemption levels.
Mistakes happen and gremlins rule 5% of the time travel sites
A blog from the Wall Street Journal notes that there are plenty of glitches in online travel sites run by travel agencies and airlines. They found mistakes cropping up around 5 percent of the time.
Expedia says incorrect prices are displayed on airfare searches about 5% of the time. Other travel sellers decline to say how often fares get switched on consumers, but many experts in airline inventory and ticket-selling say it’s happening more often. The Department of Transportation says it has investigated allegations that online booking sites are changing ticket prices based on consumer behavior, but has “found no evidence that this is taking place.”
… when attempting to purchase a British Airways ticket through Kayak.com. Kayak quoted a low price with a 28-day advance-purchase requirement. When Kayak sent Mr. Nason to the British Airways site to buy the ticket, BA changed the fare because it was already after midnight in London and no longer 28 days before departure. He was able to buy the 28-day fare on Orbitz.com, which used U.S. time zones to calculate the number of days before departure.
Photo: Iceland ©Leocha
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
