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November 15, 2008
Combating the Economy
As the economy worsens, more and more Americans are finding out that their travel plans may not be as feasible as they had planned. Seeing that the demand for travel has declines this year, many airlines are having trouble meeting their costs. However, as the economy worsens, many travelers who stubbornly cling to their holiday vacations have begun to use other means to turn their vacation dreams into realities.
American Express, one of the most widely used credit cards for travel rewards, has seen these effects come into play. Credit card travel agents from their company report
almost 87% of their vacations are being used with more reward points/miles, compared to a value of 70% from last year. Personally, I have begun to budget my miles in hopes of traveling abroad this summer, and my family personally, in hopes of still traveling over break, have used our miles to pay for our upcoming vacations.
In addition to using reward points, many consumers have begun to focus on traveling closer to home, and vacations to locations such as Florida have risen in popularity, as the more expensive locations such as Hawaii, have seen declines.
But with our falling economy, a key factor has been the drop in oil prices.
Many airlines, although being forced to work with a very unstable market
have begun to realize the decline in oil prices, and some airlines are trying to see how they can use the money saved on current flight costs to reinvest in the airlines themselves which may pay off if prices rise again.
I plan on still traveling abroad this summer, and selfishly, I hope that the economy does a comeback slow enough that it does not increase the price of my summer travel.
Posted by amkruger at November 15, 2008 05:16 PM