Cranky Talk Episode 1 – The Phantom Refunds
We’ve been tinkering with expanding podcasting, and this week we’ve launched our very first consumer-focused Cranky Talk. We decided to start with a short look at the refund issue, and we’re already working on our second episode. You can listen below, by clicking the link above, or by searching for Cranky Talk on your favorite podcasting service.
A big thank you to Southern California’s Ontario International Airport as our inaugural sponsor.
Here’s What Summer Travel Might Actually Look Like, According to Experts (Video) – Travel + Leisure
There are a lot of questions around what travel will look like this summer, and I’ve been gazing into my crystal ball the best I can.
Travelers Struggle to Get Refunds After Canceling Flights Amid Coronavirus Pandemic – Medill Reports
Northwestern’s journalism school looked into the refunds issue.
3 comments on “Cranky on the Web: A New Cranky Podcast, Summer Predictions, More Refunds”
I’ve previously predicted 500,000 daily TSA enplanements by the end of June, and I’m now willing to predict 1 million enplanements by the end of July. (These numbers still suck historically, of course, but it’s still a nice recovery from April). USA leisure demand will be pretty strong this summer. No real business travel demand until fall, but that’s not all that unusual. I predict lots of excitement in the sector as the airlines start pulling their aircraft out of the desert and putting them back in service. This is all because the virus news is now looking VERY good in Europe and the USA. The media, whose bias is strongly toward the apocalypse is about a week behind the science and data right now.
Many people have built up significant amounts of time off during the COVID-19 crisis, as trips were cancelled and as there is little reason to take time off when you can’t go anywhere and/or are working from home anyway.
Obviously many (if not most) people are still concerned about the economy, as savings rates are very high, and many people are still out of work. That said, however, provided that the economic and virus sentiments appear to be improving (even if slowly), I think we’ll see a significant number of leisure trips booked for late summer, at least among the middle-class and higher groups (think: people who have been able to work from home during the crisis, and whose incomes were relatively unaffected by it). There’s a lot to be said for “cabin fever” and wanting to get out of the house for a few days.
Presumably more regional destinations within driving distance will be in demand, as well as shorter trips (long weekends), both for economic reasons and because it will take some time for people to overcome their reluctance to fly. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see beach areas in FL to be back to a reasonable level of demand (albeit not normal) by the end of the summer, as families seek to get out of the house one last time before school starts.
Though I live in the US, Europe will still be a fun place to watch from a leisure travel standpoint, especially in August. Many European businesses unrelated to travel slow to a crawl in August (nearly shutting down in practice, if not in actuality) with so many people on vacation, and I’m curious to see how this August will vary from the norm.
Please continue to highlight your podcasts on this blog.
Also, a real, legitimate sponsor for the podcast? After all the parody sponsors for past podcast/interview episodes, I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around that… Kept waiting for the punchline.