Answering Important Travel Questions

There are many travel blogs nowadays on the world wide web, and I'm not impressed with the idea that I have a huge population of listeners to our show or readers of my blog each week. But I do know that some have quite a few hits, and rightfully so.

One that I rely on quite often is provided by the owner of a very successful agency named Churchill and Turen, LTD. I'm not certain that Richard Turen who is an owner and a long-time, well-respected travel agent, writes answers to all of the questions posed on their site, but he has received my attention for many years with his comments and insight.

A question that comes up often in my association around town and with some of my clients was posed to him in a recent issue. The question was, “why doesn't lower fuel costs equal lower air fares?” This person had just paid $2.10 a gallon to fill up their car, so why did he have to pay an additional $120 more for fuel surcharge for an airline ticket when he knew the airlines were certainly enjoying lower fuel charges and have been for some time.

The person answering his question noted that five years ago, fuel took up 30% of the major airlines operating costs. That number has halved in the past 12 months, and yet the airfares have declined only an average of 3%. Further explanation was that the nations four largest airlines recorded profits of $22 billion last year, yes, a lot of that on the back of the consumers.

The airlines have been using the largesse to purchase new airplanes and in stock buyback, strategies favored by the stockholders. We are currently in an environment where the airlines have little incentive to lower the fares; the flights are running 85-88% occupancy and they can pacify their stockholders at the expense of unhappy flyers who are sitting in crowded cabins and suffering usually surly attendants.

Unless there is a great hue and cry from the consumers about the onerous expense to fly and the obvious unreasonable profit-taking by the airlines, my opinion is that we will still continue to see that fuel surcharge remain on each airline ticket. After all, it is still the quickest way to get from point A to point B......as long as you can afford it.

Here's a good tip for a good travel website: www.traveltruth.com.

Another excellent tip is to visit with the experienced travel counselors at The Travel Factory who will save you time and money while helping you “manufacture the vacation of your dreams”. We can be found at 4150 Southwest Drive, Ste. 120, right here on the southside of Abilene between Rosa's and Chick-Fil-A. A phone contact is 325-698-1421 or toll-free 800-760-4040.

For additional information on our agency and tours available please go to our website:

www.thetravelfactoryabilene.com.