Thought I’d address a couple of issues that are affecting travelers presently, that have made the news. As well, I am going to remind everyone of what is coming for 2025 regarding European Visa requirements.
Let’s begin with the airlines. I, like many of your planning on traveling ANYWHERE by air, am concerned about the airline safety stories emerging since the first of the year. Doors falling off the Alaskan Airlines flight, wheels falling off at take-off of airplanes that have ruined parking cars at an airport, the problem of near-misses on runways across the nation. A lot to take in. The question I am asked frequently: Would you still feel confident in flying? Or, Am I still scheduled to fly this year ANYWHERE? My answer to both is YES….but of course, I am nervous, like most of you. There are hundreds of thousands of flights daily and the present issues, though disturbing, are few. I plan on traveling to Europe in October and will fly to get there. Also flying to Palm Springs soon and Hawaii in Sept. Anyway, for those apprehensive about flying overseas: There are other options, like, taking a ship over. The Cunard Queen Mary does sailings that take 6 or 7 days to cross and frankly, can cost less than a flight to Europe…if you have the time, this is an excellent one. Don’t let the fear deny you of a travel experience.
Next issues is: Pricing of trips. The Federal Government has been broaching this topic, and has for years. There have been discussions about Resort Fees as a for-instance. These fees have been challenged in court and continue to be.
There have been tons of suits going to address ‘surprise’ fees at either check-in or check-out. These fees drastically change the total and generally amount to a LOT of money, since they are a DAILY fee added for services that you expect for a resort of offer included in the room price. The location generally charges for wifi OR include it. Sometimes the amenities are only available complimentary for their LOYALTY guests. Some resorts do not charge them, and many, I believe, soon will not allow them to be a separate charge. Some locations will allow you to drop those fees if you don’t intend on using that particular amenity. Anymore, they don’t drop them, they are mandatory. Because of the ambiguity, it is very confusing for a traveler as they try to decide between different resorts, especially when purchasing ON-LINE.
Many vendors (air, cruise and hotels and resorts) are providing DYNAMIC PRICING as an alternative to that, for the reason that, allowing for a range of pricing for the same productand services so that the customer can determine what they are willing to pay to don’t need.
Another example is airline pricing. You see regularly now, BASIC ECONOMY, ECONOMY, PREMIUM ECONOMY. You pay for luggage or not, you pay for more leg-room, or, you pay for food, or not, you pay for carry-on luggage, or not…you pay what you feel works for you. The problem with this is, like with BASIC ECONOMY. If you decide to take this level of service paying what you believe is a LOT less for the flight, you must pay a LOT if at last second you decide to check your baggage – up to $80 and up per piece!!!!!! Turns out terribly more expensive than going with the ECONOMY level that includes a piece for $35-50 instead. You must be sure that you know what you are buying. You can also be paying for personal items, like for instance, a purse or personal carry-on. This is common on Allegiant and Spirit. Frequent flyers on certain airlines, or purchases utilizing the airline credit card, could have some of those fees waived.
Back to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and their work to outlaw some advertising practices. Coming to mind here, let’s look at the cruise industry.
Regarding cruises: You see what we call LEAD-IN pricing for sailings ALWAYS…are the lowest possible category. These prices do not include some mandatory fees in print advertising, along with other charges and supplement and taxes that are additional. Some of this you learn when you get the Invoice and expected to may an initial (deposit) or Final Payment. Advertising price SHOULD reflect a total price. The FTC is considering such a rule.
Of course, California, known to be progressive, GOOD OR BAD, has already enacted a law banning advertising that does not include any and all mandatory or supplemental fees. That law goes into affect on July, 1, 2024 this year. This law is going to be enforceable to ALL companies that advertise to California residents as well. It is an amendment toe the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA). According to my sources, this law/rule is really ahead of the federal government nationwide program. Specifically, this law in California includes EVERY THRAVEL SUPPLIER period!
This all should be interesting to watch and monitor. Regarding California residents, the new law can be used for the California residents to actually sue a vendor for any violation. So, I wonder if we’ll be seeing those billboard taken down OR changes on California freeways that advertise for instance, $59* room rates in Tahoe? The asterisk is referencing a footnote that shows that the $59 rate is really PER PERSON and BASED ON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY. WHAT???? So of course, those traveling to Tahoe or Reno, believing the very reasonable rate, are ALWAYS surprised (especially those not reading the asterisk below), that room will turn out to be actually starting at $118 per night since there must be two persons in the room. If not, a single person has to pay the $118 price for the room, PLUS TAXES AND FEES. Remember ou r discussion earlier about hidden possible RESORT FEES.
Soooo, cruise lines do the same thing, advertise as a PER PERSON but the cabins actual cost is based on two (2) persons sharing the room. That’s where you see SINGLE OCCUPANCY is 200% of any advertised price UNLESS, there is a special offered for the SINGLE occupant….and you do see them often. The cruise lines will offer waiver single supplements on occasion, some with discounts, like 24%, 50% or 75% off on specific sailings. These are generally sailings that are projected to not be sold out or meeting the yield management standard. That means, better to have an occupied cabin than an empty one. You see, cruises make a LOT of money in the beverage, excursions and specialty dinning options. Better to have a full cabin, but, something is better than nothing. Most websites for cruises do offer this advantage to single travelers under DEALS or SPECIAL OFFERS. Just read the fine print. By the way, the discounts are rarely offered from a double-occupancy promo. The pricing will be calculated for the ORIGINAL price of the cabin (in most cases) before any promo discount offer to a full cabin. Did that make sense?
Now, before I close, I have to mention that you must be aware of occupancy changes when booking. Let’s say you and a friend plan to travel together and your friend decides he/she cannot travel with you. What happens to your promotional deal that you found and booked? Well, you either find another companion (most times you’ll have to pay for a name change, not always, but generally). But what if you end up traveling alone? Well, you are reverted to a SINGLE and even insurance doses not cover for a reduced occupancy, or it would happen all the time. The total is recalculated and, if there isn’t a SINGLE DEAL out there for that sailing, you will be stuck with a 200% increase in the fare. Remember, you can’t pay for just ½ of a cabin is it is suppose to be occupied by two (2) people. Unfair, well, sorry Charlie, that’s the way single occupancy works.
FINALLY, I want to address the issue of vendor bankruptcies. Recently the American Queen Cruise Lines and Gogo Tours closed their doors. I was personally very disappointed about the American Queen Cruise Line because it was a great product. When Delta Queen cruise line folded, there were originally two buyers and they were going to go together to purchase the line. Crap happens and, like a lot of partnerships, they had a pee-pee match and each partner bought half of the Delta product each. They did not have a meeting of the minds about how to manage and construct the business I believe. Anyway, subsequent to that, they branded their companies as The American Queen and the other American Cruise Lines. The American Cruise line has since merged with Pearl line etc., expanded to include coastal sailings and the like. American Queen kept to the original game plan of the Delta Queen, but both expanded to the Columbia and Snake River etc. One of them survived obviously, the other didn’t. I loved the character of the ships. But why am I writing about this? Well, what happens when you invest in a vacation with your hard money and the vendor folds? Sometimes a vendor will honor existing bookings and cancel any future bookings after a certain date, but some just close their doors. Insurance can help sometimes. I can tell you that the credit card you used to make the purchase can assist you, depends on the card. It is a sad set of circumstances when your client, or you as a passenger lose money.
GoGo tours, a land vacation company th did a ton of romance travel, sadly also closed their doors. It is so disappointing to learn of these unfortunate things, but not a surprise. Since the awful COVID pandemic a couple of years ago, many vendors found it difficult to recover. Frankly, I don’t know how some of them did. Some merged, some just gave up. If you purchase a vendors insurance, that means generally that they are self-insured. Likelihood of getting your money back is slim. A good reason, in that case, book 3rd party travel insurances that might cover such an issue. Still, fortunately these happenings are not so common, though recently more than usual, so don’t let this deter you from exploring the world. Working with a trust travel advisor can help, though no guarantee, as sometimes it is a surprise of them as well.
