Kayak.com publishes daily data on consumer flight searches and this has been a reliable early indicator of future load factors, though of course people do book tickets and cancel more often now given the uncertainty in the world and greater flexible change policies that airlines have offered.
Something strange happened yesterday. On July 21 people searched for international travel 15% more than last year. What in the world is going on?
I’ll be talking miles and points live today on Spencer Howard’s Instagram Live today at 4 p.m. Eastern. Spencer writes Straight to the Points and sends out a free award availability alerts newsletter.
American Airlines has been one of the most aggressive in restoring its schedule. As Senior Vice President Vasu Raja has explained, with the federal government picking up payroll costs through September, at $35 oil their break-even load factor is 25%. So they added a bunch of flights to the schedule, restoring 55% of 2019’s capacity.
A month and a half ago I said to expect that travel wouldn’t rebound as quickly as some expected. Even at low break-even levels American is finding they need to scale back their flying again.
The Park Hyatt Maldives is discounting to $2495 for a 5 night stay for two people ($499/night) including tax which equates to a rate of $402 per night. You can add additional nights for $499 each, again tax-included, and this covers double occupancy. And the deal – for a pool villa, not a base villa – includes breakfast and dinner.
I’ve stayed at the property five times. It’s one of my favorite places. There are just 50 rooms on the island, each one is a standalone villa and the villas themselves are largely the same but for location and whether there’s a pool. Service is generally good and friendly, and it’s a great place for social distancing. You can hang out at the main pool, or with this deal at your own pool.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Over the next month 7 airlines are launching the ability to buy multiple seats for yourself online as part of buying a ticket, and pick those seats off the seat map to guarantee you as much space as you wish.
Many airports already require face masks, but United is imposing the requirement now at airports themselves starting this Friday, July 24. They’re putting the same teeth of a potential travel ban in place for customers not wearing masks in areas of the terminal that they control.
The airline will also be requiring that masks be worn by all children two years old and older.
After getting discovered the man stayed in his room. The women called police, who then knocked on his door. He denied having anything to do with a camera but the officer said ‘he could get a warrant’ and the perpetrator cracked.
Robert Mann Privette from South Carolina was arrested for “video voyeurism” and burglary. He admitted to using this camera technique on business trips he had taken across the country – he couldn’t even say how many times though copped to “ten-plus times over the past year.”
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Air Canada is running a duo of rich promotions. These aren’t going to move the needle to get most Americans to travel since actually visiting Canada isn’t feasible right now given quarantine requirements and connecting on Air Canada is of limited use given the number of countries that are closed to those carrying U.S. passports.
Nonetheless these are offers to watch, because they underscore what a loyalty program can do to help get members excited and because they’ll be gathering strong data on how much promotions can move the needle right now on travel in places where the virus seems under control.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
