Anybody travelling by air this vacation season?
 

No way, I'm staying put. Travel just looks horrible right now - I can't see why so many people are doing it.

It's worldwide - I read the other day that QANTAS are losing 1 in every 10 pieces of luggage at the moment.

Heathrow, London wants a limit on passengers traveling.

The lines and wait time at airports here is horrendous too.

I'm flying to Italy on Saturday morning. Flying from a small airport (Bristol). Hopefully it won't be too chaotic.

We’re heading to Oregon next weekend to see our older daughter and her husband. We live on opposite coasts, so if we (and they) don’t travel, we don’t see each other. Our other daughter and her family live about a days drive, and we spend a few months each winter down in their town, so we see plenty of them. But we went two years without seeing our Oregon daughter during the worst of the pandemic and that’s way too long not to see your child. Now that we feel somewhat safer traveling, we do, and they do as well.

There are travel horror stories out there, but they’re still the exception. Both of our daughters needed to fly to my wife’s old hometown over July 4th weekend when my mother in law died suddenly - it was all very last minute and it all went amazingly smoothly. We haven’t done any travel for “fun” in several years, but that’s the change in life that happens after you retire, your kids are in the crazy busy time of their lives, and if you want see them (and a grandchild now) traveling is the only way to do it. So, we do! And they do, and we see each other as much as you can when you’re living across the country from each other.

-Ray

Took a trip in April with no problems, other than having to cut it short. Even booking a same day flight to get home in a hurry was without incident.

Getting a credit for the non-used portion of the return flight was a challenge (originally a pandemic cancelled flight). Took me better part of a day to finally get someone on the phone that could process our credit for an up coming trip in Sept.

Since we 'cancelled' the April return flight, we could not use our credit to 'fly out' - could only use it for a return flight (go figure). So we ended up booking two one way trips - outbound using credit card points, with no out of pocket cash; used our credit plus cash for the homebound flight.

And yea, we are already looking at Airtags to keep track of our luggage.

D

We went from Philadelphia to Heathrow to Edinburgh to Dublin to Philadelphia a couple months ago with barely an issue.

I flew from Philadelphia to Atlanta last month and it was awful. Cancelled flights, delayed flights, no flight crews…the worst.

My wife and I are both experienced business travelers so not much is new to us. I think it’s a day by day, flight by flight thing.

Having said that I always carry a spare toothbrush in my backpack!

We might do a week day non-stop flight with a particular airport pair but otherwise trying to avoid air travel. The problems are in the whole system. Airlines are waiting for their new era more efficient planes, they are short-staffed, and same for the airports and other supporting firms.

On I think Bruce saying "it's world-wide", I think it was a recent Economist podcast that pointed out we're in a world-wide scenario of what might be a record or new in modern times for so many nations having the same list of challenges at the same time.

I've just returned from Vietnam and the journey of 6,000 miles was exactly on time. There are definitely problems in Dublin and some English airports with check ins and baggage handling, but the larger hubs in the middle east and SE Asia seem to have things under control.
I have tried my best to ignore the Covid lockdowns and will continue to struggle with this madness.

Not me. Canadian air travel has been brutal the past couple of months. I know it's a global thing but I read some stats a couple of weeks ago where it was either Air Canada or Toronto airport (Canada's largest) had the most delays/cancellations for a few days in a row.

We flew Montreal to Amsterdam in Apr and then Budapest to Mtl through London in May. No trouble at all on the out leg. On the return through London UK our flight to Mtl, we think, got cancelled and the airline had to rebook us the next day. Paid for hotel, meals etc so other than the inconvenience, and not being told what was actually going on. just another airline and travel horror story.

While we are not travelling internationally any time soon, we do have flights booked cross country in Sept. Fingers crossed for that trip.

I want to, but I am not. I think Air Canada was ranked the worst in the world. Yippee!

I want to because my artist mentor, who lives in Santa Rosa, CA, is 94 years old and, well, I don't know (obviously) how long she is going to stay alive. I would really like to see her in person one more time.

I am mostly OK with the planes themselves, it is the airports that make me cringe. While the drive down the coast from Vancouver to San Francisco is, IMO, one of the truly great drives on the planet, I am having a hard time thinking about it. I have done that drive at least 40 times (every year since 1991, sometimes three times in the same year). I would also love to hike the redwoods again. But, sheesh, I am finding long drives are more and more uncomfortable. I also have no cruise control, or A/C. So.....

Driving 1500 miles in the heat of summer? Pass. Plus my only vehicle is an old full size van with a V8. I could probably fly around the world for what it would cost in gas. Pass.

Maybe if I would feel differently if I had someone to visit. Like kids. I sure see that. But other than that one person (see above) there is no one for me to visit. Any travel is strictly for my own interest/pleasure. Airports? Nope. Not quite ready yet.

Yes, but not until after the summer crush (September and November).

But for right now it is domestic only, non-stop only, carry on luggage only.

We flew to Puerto Rico with a connection and checked bags in March-- had no choice, it was friends' wedding and too far to swim. Felt very lucky to avoid any issues.

Got a family wedding in a few weeks so we will be “braving” it. Just to far to drive

Anybody travelling by air this vacation season?
 

My wife travels with her work and just finished a trip that took her to Switzerland via Paris and on to Iceland via Frankfurt. She is outside during daylight hours while working so she pays special attention to weather conditions and packs accordingly. It’s significantly cooler in Iceland than Switzerland apparently.
Any way, the morning she landed in Paris the airport workers went on strike. Her checked luggage was never to be seen again during the entirety of her travels. After being home for 2 weeks her luggage was deposited on our doorstep.

I hope everyone is making the best of things wherever you are.
Sincerely,
Tom