Alternatives to Flying and Dropping Hotel Rates

Locations in this article:  Chicago, IL San Francisco, CA

airplane-sunset.jpgIf you have been watching the Today show you might have seen a piece on how to spend your $600 tax stimulus rebate check.

There were a lot of people in the travel industry who were thinking, when the going gets tough and you’ve got $600 in your pocket, the tough will get going.

And that’s exactly what a lot of people are doing. I don’t buy this garbage called a “staycation.”

We’re a nature of addicted travelers; it is in our DNA. We feel we are entitled to travel.

We may do it differently, we may not go as far, and we may not spend as many days, but I don’t know anybody who is staying home for the whole summer, unless they are already by definition a shut-in.

In fact, two weeks ago, I did my radio show from Little Saint Simons Island in Georgia. Here is a 10,000-acre, privately operated reserve where only 30 people can stay on the island at any one time.

I met a couple who told me, “The government got us here.”

I said, “Oh, you work for the government?” No, they were using their $600 rebate check.

More and more people are doing this. I think there is a feeling of desperation out there saying if we don’t do it now, we’re never going to do it … and there may be some truth to that given the economy.

One of the smart things you should be doing is considering something called “city passes” in many U.S. cities. They’ve got them in major cities like Chicago, San Francisco and New York. The one in San Francisco is so neat because it gives you unlimited on and off mass transportation for seven days, plus admission to the museums and many other attractions.

In New York, you can get a city pass for $69, which includes admission to 40 different museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim. You can even get a tour of NBC, which maybe I’ll take one day to figure out what I do for a living.

OIL PRICES TAKING TOLL ON FLYING

Once again, it’s been another wild week for the airlines.

Here’s a little math: Last year, oil was maybe $50 or $60 a barrel and now it is over $134 a barrel. Every $10 increase in the price of oil per barrel costs American Airlines alone $800 million.

Remember that late last December it was $92 a barrel and now it’s over $134. That is billions of dollars and who is it going to come from? It’s going to come from you.

Here is the deal—almost all the airlines are stupid. And, they think we must be stupid. They want to try to keep their prices low to be competitive, but those low fares are artificial because there comes the dreaded asterisk. And next thing you know we are getting surcharged to death.

WHAT WOULD SOUTHWEST DO?

Southwest LogoNow, having said that Southwest Airlines wasted no time at all by making this announcement: Southwest does not charge a change fee; Southwest does not charge you to purchase a paper ticket or to purchase your ticket at the airport; Southwest allows two checked bags for free; Southwest does not charge the charge the check a bag at the curb; Southwest does not charge for soft drinks, juice, water, snacks, pillows, or blankets.

But come on Southwest, have you seen your pillows or blankets? Stop it. If I took the Centers for Disease Control on any plane and had them inspect the pillows or blankets the airline would be shut down. You were doing great ’til you got to the pillows and blankets, Southwest.

Other than the pillows and blankets, I’d have to say that Southwest has got a marketing advantage right now. Now, here is the really big irony of all of this—have you checked the fares at Southwest? They’re higher in many cases than the fares of other airlines.

So, they’ve just basically continued to raise their fares and they have gotten goodwill from their passengers because they’re not nickel and diming them to death.

ALTERNATIVES TO FLYING

bus interiorYou know, it’s one thing to say that the airlines are in a desperate position and when you see those fuel bills, you know they are in a desperate position. It is a whole other thing to say because we are desperate so we are going to nickel and dime you and anger you in so many different ways. That is not the way to run any kind of business.

If they were a butcher and a baker or a candlestick maker you would stop giving them your business. The airlines are doing it thinking that you have no other choices.

Well, guess what? In many cases you do have a choice on trips that are less than 400 miles. Just watch my words and see what happens with Greyhound and Amtrak because ridership is already soaring. Traveling by train or bus has become an economical, viable alternative on trips of less than 400 miles.

When you think about it, I don’t have to take my shoes off when I go on Greyhound. (I hope the guy next to me never takes his shoes off when he goes on Greyhound.) The same thing on trains, and on trains, I can even plug in my laptop and charge my cell phone.

THE SILVER LINING

In the meantime, if you are planning your vacation this summer, keep in mind that while airlines have cut capacity, hotels haven’t. They can’t just close rooms the same way that airlines can pull out planes. What does that mean? Ironically, the hotels are becoming a buyers’ market. It used to be that getting there was cheap and staying there was out of control. Now, it is starting to switch.

So, do your homework here. If you can drive there, do it—I don’t care what gas costs. Think about it: If you can drive there you’ll make it up on the fees. Hotel rates at this time of the year are dropping because the airlift has dropped. So think of a clever way to get there. No, you don’t have to walk, you don’t have to be Forrest Gump and run across the country.

But if you can figure out a way to get there, I’ll make you a bet it is a whole lot cheaper now than it was six months ago because there is not enough airlift to get there.

From Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio.

Read more from Peter’s Travel Detective Blog.