Around the World - Column by Jennifer Merin

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Around The World: Travel Means Freedom

Jennifer Merin

There are new concerns in the air for those who suffer from fear of flying. Or, to put it more accurately, there are new issues that are causing even those who’ve never suffered from fear of flying to do so now.

The new found anxieties have to do not with whether the airplane--that soaring sardine can environment--creates a painfully claustrophobic sensation nor with thoughts that the metal tube that’s hurtling through the atmosphere with you on board might crash to earth.

The new found worries have to do with whether the flight you’ve booked for your much anticipated and long awaited vacation, honeymoon or other important travel event will ever take off. What’s even worse, these concerns are actually quite warranted--especially if you‘ve booked long in advance and are traveling to and/or from a second tier city.

The truth is that the airlines are canceling hundreds of flights due, say the airlines spokesmen, to escalating fuel costs. Small cities across the United States will no longer have direct or connecting air service, so travelers whose journeys originate in those locales will have to find some form of ground transportation to get to larger airport hubs where they can board flights destined for other large airport hubs, where they may have to again resort to ground transportation for ongoing travel to their final destination--if that destination is a smaller city that, like their home town, has lost airline service. That process is time consuming and costly.

Furthermore, the choice of flights from hub airport to hub airport is also decreasing because airlines are cutting the number and frequency of flights on most major routes.

In fact, the major airlines’ published flight schedules for this coming Fall indicate a significant drop in the number of their flights overall, which means a severe decrease in passenger seat capacity. Compared to last year, most of America’s most important airports will lose ten percent or more of their outbound passenger capacity. And, if fuel prices stay as high as they are or, worse yet, continue to rise, there will be further cuts in the future..

The flight cuts vary from airline to airline, from state to state. But, what’s most surprising is that they effect several of America’s favorite tourist destinations--those that are frequented by both U.S. citizens and visitors from abroad. They include the very popular Honolulu (down about 25 percent), Orlando (down about 12 percent) and Las Vegas (down about 12 percent. Aspen, a favorite with skiers, is down 39 percent--an amount that‘s sure to effect an economy that depends largely on inbound tourism.

But don’t think that larger airports--and their legions of business travelers--are escaping cuts in flights and capacity. Chicago, Los Angeles and New York are losing flights. More specifically, Chicago is down 19 percent overall (six percent from O’Hare and 13 percent from Midway), Los Angeles is down 22 percent (seven percent from LAX, seven percent from Burbank and eight percent from Long Beach) and New York is down about eleven percent (six percent from JFK, two percent from LaGuardia and three percent from Newark). Even Washington DC will see cuts of about eight percent (one percent from Regan, seven percent from Dulles).

Even airline hub cities--such as Continental’s Houston, US Airway’s Phoenix and Delta’s Cincinnati--are losing flights.

How will the cuts impact you? That depends largely on where you live and where your travel plans take you. But, it’s sure that you’ll experience more than the inconvenience of having fewer flights to choose from. There will also be a jump in ticket prices.

Like the chicken and the egg, it’s not sure which starts the cycle: flight cuts or rising ticket prices. Will you stop flying--for business or leisure--or think more than twice about it, because you can’t find a flight that’s convenient for you and goes to your chosen destination, or because the cost of flying has become prohibitive for you? If higher prices are the deciding factor, there will be less demand for seats, and capacity will be further cut.

With less overall capacity, it’s sure that the number of frequent flyer seats will cut and they’ll be harder to book. And, there are additional booking fees, and newly applied charges for checked baggage and other services that used to be included in the price of the ticket--or come free with frequent flyer tickets.

Bearing all of that in mind, perhaps you’d best get set to change your business and leisure travel habits, and prepare to see the travel industry, in general, fall off.

And look for the ripple effect that such widespread disruption of our air transportation system will have on our economy. Experts predict that flight cuts will precipitate the airlines’ layoffs of workers in all aspects of their operations. Beyond that, there will be an effect on associated businesses, including all aspects of the hospitality industry.

For those of us who crave travel for their sense of well being or who have to travel for business, and are accustomed to flight convenience and affordability, the future looks grim. Desperately depressing, really. And damaging to our way of life.

Anyway you look at it, the changes that are being made benefit the corporate interests of the airlines. Some of the cuts are genuinely necessary, some are probably quite necessary. But the general sweep puts our entire pattern of travel at risk.

A healthy travel industry is crucial to our economy and our culture. Travel is, after all, one of our freedoms. Along with the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly, our constitutionally guaranteed right to go from place to place is an American essential.

American citizens simply won’t settle for being locked behind an Iron Curtain or a Berlin Wall--even if it seems that the reasons for curtailing their mobility are purely economic.

We’ve fought restrictions on people’s right to travel in other countries, and our current situation is something we should ponder deeply as we celebrate Independence Day--either at home or while on the road.

Copyright 2008 Jennifer Merin

This news arrived on: 07/04/2008

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