Economy affect your dive travel plans?

[OSUcowboyinSPFD]

The airfare in out of St. Louis, Kansas City, and Tulsa has been high ever since we got home from Coz in late April. This is still going to be the year we turn two trips, but we are pricing different hotel options to compensate for the higher airfare. My experience has been that prices in Coz for diving, hotel, and food have remained relatively stable (slight inflation, but not too bad), but the airfare has spiked significantly.

To top this off, we live in an area where we have to drive to the airport and overnight there before leaving. The incidental expense associated with this has risen dramatically. A night at the Sleep Inn in KC is almost $100, the gas to get there and back is $100, and a meal on the way is $50. I used points and an Applebee's gift card someone gave me to offset, but that is basically 2-3 days of diving for one person.

The saddest part of this -- we have a regional airport in Springfield, Missouri, 7 miles from my house. However, the airfare is astronomical out of there. It would add, easily, 450-500 dollars to travel out of Springfield.

I have done my complaining. I do intend to go back to Coz in December even if I have to get there in a rowboat and stay in a pup tent.

 

[ggunn]

However gas prices have affected our plans... Were were going to drive to So Cal or the Keys for our second vacation this summer but it'll be cheaper to fly to Coz for a week ...

Gosh, that's terrible! How will you ever stand it? ;^)

 

[Diver Kat]

Booked the airfare for 2 of our 3 '08 trips early, so only the December trip to Ft. Lauderdale is a problem. We're already looking at Coz flights for next March as the prices are jumping, and only a few dates still have R/T out of Houston for about $420 pp. Don't know what we'll do for the rest of '09 if airfares keeps going up. Might actually have to stay home and do some work around the house. :11:

 

[DenverDiverErin]

My husband and I just started the next step in our careers here in St. Louis - for him, intern year of residency in Psychiatry, and for me, a post-doctoral research position in virology. We have very tight vacation times, and they are decided for my husband at the beginning of each year. So our dates for travel are always very specific, making it impossible to look for cheaper flights based on flexibility in dates/times of flights. On top of that, when we were in Denver we could always get direct flights to Coz between $300-500 per person, year round (we were pretty spoiled with Frontier). Now in St. Louis, there are NO direct flights, and the ones we can get are $550-$1000 per person, depending on time of year.

Now with American (our main route to Coz) charging for any bag, that will make diving trip that much more difficult. We got hanging digital scales so we can now make sure every bag is under 50 lb., but then the number of bags increases. It must really suck for the airlines right now, for them to jump to so many charges that would have seemed bizarre just 2 years ago.

Anyway, given all of this, diving may just have to take a back burner for awhile, and more local, non-diving trips will be the only options. Look out Six Flags, here we come!

 

[Diver Kat]

Now with American (our main route to Coz) charging for any bag, that will make diving trip that much more difficult.

So far, it appears AA has not added the extra charges to travel to Mexico - yet. The fees only apply to "Flights within the United States, the U.S. virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Canada." All the more reason to shop for tickets now!!

 

[betsyinczm]

Kat----do you think if you buy a ticket "sooner" that you are exempt from the extra bag fee or "first bag" fee that they might attach later for flights to Mexico? Am curious about that and not feeling real trustful of ANY airline these days, that's for sure!

Seems like for many who live in "boonie" places, it's now a good idea to check out the super cheap flights (domestic) that are offered by Southwest, Frontier and similar short hop airlines to get you to a hub that has cheaper or charter flights, like georoc01 mentioned doing...........although I sure never thought that THAT option would be necessary out of Denver!!!

Betsy

 

[Rustydiver]

I booked my Cozumel trip about a month ago. The same trip is up over $1,000 more than what I paid. I'd say it will impact me for my next trip.

 

[Jrock1062]

I will not be leaving the country this year i will drive to NC for some wreck diving instead

 

[ggunn]

Kat----do you think if you buy a ticket "sooner" that you are exempt from the extra bag fee or "first bag" fee that they might attach later for flights to Mexico? Am curious about that and not feeling real trustful of ANY airline these days, that's for sure!

The way Continental has been doing it is to institute new fees on tickets booked in the future. I'm pretty sure that they have to do it that way, since the purchase of a ticket is a legal contract and they can't change the terms after it is signed.

 

[betsyinczm]

Thanks Gordon.........that makes sense except for the craziness at check-in with some paying and some not!.......now they'll say we have to be at the airport FIVE hours ahead of the flight.........hahha.............Betsy